Petra

Petra -famous temples in mountain gorges as featured in Indiana Jones does something or other ...

Good things

Huge temples carved into the mountain side and the odd one on top of the mountain.

Had to scramble up 800 steps avoiding tourists on donkeys and bead sellers but the view over the mountains to Israel was spectacular.

Eerie wailing of Imans resonating around the mountains at sunset

Being driven along Kings Highway and traversing enormous canyons - similar to the Grand canyon

Bad things

High rate of water perspiration into hat from 8 hours of wandering around with the camels.

Hat washing required

The King's Highway and Karak Castle

We went with our regular taxi driver to Petra via the King's Highway. We stopped for a breathtaking view of the Wadi Mujeb. You can see how the road snakes its way into the valley and then up the other side. We felt like we were on top of the world as we looked down to the dam below.

Next, he took us to Karak, one of the Crusader castles in the area. It is 1000 meters above the Dead Sea and had great strategic importance. It was build in 1132 by Baldwin I of Jerusalem. It formed part of a great line of crusader castles between Aquaba (on the Red Sea) and Turkey. It lies between Jerusalem and Shobak. It could not hold out against Salah Eddin, the Muslim leader of the time. He attacked it after Reynoud De Chatillon broke several treaties with him. If you see that recent crusade movie, Kingdom of Heaven starring Orlando Bloom, it portrays some of these events. The Mamluks refortified the castle and later it was even used by the Ottomans.

The Karak Castle museum had a really nice timeline that told us who controlled the area from the neolithic period up until present times. We enjoyed wandering around the castle ruins. Afterward, our driver took us to his friend's restaurant for some delicious barbecued kebabs. He seems to know everyone in Jordan.

Jerash

Jerash, the most complete set of Roman ruins outside of Italy, is located in northwestern Jordan. It is very impressive! We started our visit by passing through Hadrian's triumphal arch, built in 129 AD to honor the emperor's visit to this once-thriving Roman city. It was meant to eventually form part of the South Gate, but this project was never completed. So, we passed through the original South Gate behind it to get to the Hippodrome. They were conducting mock chariot races, but they cost an additional 12 JD to watch so we opted to continue our free tour. The large, dusty track in the photo shows the remains of this ancient hippodrome. Next, we entered the Oval Court. This was amazing - a vast ovular courtyard surrounded by huge columns. Then, we proceeded down the main colonnaded street. It was lined with monumental columns. They were absolutely enormous in person! You could still see the marks from the chariots along the pavement as well. This street was originally lined with two-story shops and covered walkways. I will have to finish our blog tomorrow because this internet connection is way too slow.... Still to come - Petra!

Aljun Castle (Qala'at ar-Rabad)

We drove through the outskirts of Amman and continued north to reach Aljun Castle (Qala'at ar-Rabad), an Islamic fortress high on a mountain with views across to Syria and Israel. It was built to counter the threat of the Crusaders. They had their own castle, Belvoire, on Lake Tiberius. It held off the Crusaders, but then it fell to the Mongols in the 13th century.

Later, it was rebuilt by the Mamluks and it remains a really good example of early Muslim castle-building. The highlight of the visit, however, is the breathtaking views from the castle's mountaintop perch.

The Dead Sea

Stephen's notes on our first two days in Jordan....

Good things
View from Mount Nebo overlooking Moses's promised land. Looks like more rocks and sand to me but maybe he had a vision of what it would be 2000 years later
Visit to the River Jordan when Jesus was baptised. It's 6 ft wide here. Not much of a border!
Floating in the Dead Sea. Actually you feel a bit stupid as you can't swim as your legs are stuck in the air but it's an interesting experience. But people don't read newspapers like you see in the adverts because your hands get wet..obviously..

Bad things
Didn't have any cash for the visa. Had to bribe security to sneak out an ATM and then join the back of the queue
Hotel collection service came the night before and didn't come when we arrived. Came eventually after convincing them on the phone that 12:15pm was in the afternoon and not at midnight. Waited an hour. Hurumphed and crossed arms on the trip to the hotel hopefully conveying their utter incompetence.
The Dead Sea has 10 times the amount of salt per whatsit as the ocean. Hence you float. Also hence it bloody stings if you get any of it on tender parts like your eye lids. It also tastes so awful that you immediately have to run out and get some water. If you get it in your eyes you're pretty much blinded and bang your feet on stones as you stagger out. Big recommendation - don't fart. The physical action is immediately excruciating and quickly wipes away any self congratulating smirks...

Mount Nebo and Bethany-Beyond-Jordan

The first two photos are from the top of Mount Nebo. This is where Moses is said to have seen the 'Promised Land' before he died. On a clear day you can see Jerusalem, Jericho, the River Jordan and the Dead Sea. We could make out everything except Jerusalem. It was a little to hazy to see that far. The Franciscan monks have been restoring the Moses Memorial Church. It was first described by the Roman nun, Etheria in 393 AD. In 597 a large Byzantine monastery was built around the church. Archeologists have uncovered some lovely mosaics from that time. They are in the process of adding a bridge over the large mosaic floor so that people won't step on it and ruin it.

The rest of the photos are from Bethany-Beyond-Jordan. This is the place they think Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist. First, we boarded an open-backed shuttle to drive to the pedestrian entrance. We passed by Elijah's Hill, a mound of earth that is said to mark the place where Elijah ascended into heaven on a chariot. As we left the shuttle, we followed a dirt road until we came to a platform for our first glimpse of the Jordan River. It was disappointingly narrow. I guess they use a lot of the water for irrigation now, but there are marks to show how high it used to flow. I was amazed that this small river marks the border between Jordan and Israel.

As we continued along the path we came to the actual baptism sight. It is the small pool of water surrounded by the ruins of four different early Byzantine churches that were destroyed by earthquakes. They believe that John the Baptist lived nearby (in the wilds) surviving on locusts and honey. We wandered past the baptism sight toward a beautiful, newly-constructed Greek Orthodox Church. Hopefully, this one is earthquake-proof. They are planning to build a Catholic Church next. Pope John Paul visited this sight a few years ago.

Beyond the Greek Orthodox Church we came to a place along the river where we were able to dip our own hands into the sacred waters of the Jordan. Just across the river at that point, the Israelis are busily constructing their own visitor center. I couldn't believe how close we were to a territory that is in the news every day. From the river it all seemed so peaceful. The photo of the reinforced wall is the Israeli (or Palestinian) side of the river. Jericho, just across the water, is part of the Palestinian Territory.

Madaba

Just arrived in another rocky deserty camel place although the people seem more civilised. Camels the same.

Madaba is small town with convenient things and a mosaic that draws Christians to ooh and aah. Had a quick look myself. Very nice. Bits missing of course and it reminded me of going around a bathroom showroom. It's also close to the dead sea and Jerusalem. Jorden must be a good place to learn diplomacy when you're sandwiched between Israel, the West Bank, Syria and Iraq

Hurgada

Hughada on the Red Sea, Egypt
Guidebooks advise that this is an ugly place without beaches, expensive accomodation and full of Russians. Bridgend in the summer if you've ever been....Spent 5 nights at a posh resort - included as part of our tour - and only spent 1 night surrounded by Russians in a bar with a barman who did Russian tricks. Managed to win some drinks out of him with some astute mathematics on his cocktail stick problem; received a beer from a thick set Russian who was obviously a sailor or oil oligarth and the ruskis beat Sweden in the football so everyone was happy apart from the blond bearded chaps in the corner wearing viking horns...

Quite liked it really. The taxi drivers weren't aggressive, you could walk past a shop without being bundled in and it didn't smell of camels

Good things
Diving in the Red Sea - seeing fish, not losing buddy (wife), not getting sick, not drowning etc
Snorkelling from the beach
Beach volleyball in Arabic. Had to master the technique of jumping in and out of flip flops at the right time as the sand was still at furnace temperature
Police convoys between Luxor and Hughada and then Hughada to Cairo. A bit like the Canonball Run, hurtling through the desert and getting all the other traffic to stop and wait for you. Not sure why we had an armed guard. Maybe to keep the camel hustlers away?
Leaving dodgy tipping Egypt

Bad thingsWatching football on a screen with a projector that had a permanent smudge in the middle so it was a bit like playing spot the ball
Germany beating the French
Having 2 drivers and a guide in our taxi and having to tip them all
Getting charged extra in Egyptian pounds because none on the banks had enough British pounds. They only trust Euros as the stable foreign currency now it seems.

Karnak and Luxor

Queen Hatshepsut's Temple

This temple looks amazing from the distance. It is built right up in front of the mountain. It has three levels and blends into the mountain terrain nicely. Queen Hatshepsut was the only female ruler in ancient Egypt. She claimed to be the daughter of Ammon-Ra in order to establish her legitimacy. She also had the sculptors depict her with many of the features of the male pharoahs. They even showed her wearing a beard! See the photographic evidence above....

Valley of the Kings

It's still oven baking hot here such that you cannot stand on the stone floor by the pool without burning your feet in seconds. Pool temperature is 27 degrees and it's a good idea to keep your hat on. I havent seen anyone frying an egg on the floor yet but it would be an interesting experiment.

Nile cruise - Forgotten how aggressive European holidaymakers are when there is a free food and tea and cakes available. Lots of pink frying bodies with tight trunks and beer bellies reserving river side seats. We had great pleasure removing towels and conversing loudly french - il est interdit de reserver les chaises..sacre blue, waterloo etc We had a little table on our own after that...

Luxor - The town is famous for its tombs cut into the mountain and its enormous temple. It's hard work shuffling around looking at ruins in the heat - 45 in the shade - but it's still amazing looking at the colossal monuments

Good things
Early morning visit it tombs and temples. Beautiful colours in the sand and we avoided most of the tour buses that come in hoards after 9am
Feluca boat ride - fat little sailing boat that tacks slowly along the Nile

Bad things
Tipping porters that grab our bags before we can and run off to the taxi
Being hassled by horse and carriage drivers to go for a ride
The smell of horse dung in the heat mixed with the smell of kebabs
Feluca boat captain waiting until you're midstream before flogging you local handicrafts

Edfu Temple

In spite of the 6:30am wake-up call, we enjoyed our early morning visit to Edfu Temple. It is in much better condition than Co'omombo because it is farther away from the Nile River. In fact, it is the best-preserved example of a Greek temple in Egypt. The imposing presence of the outer wall and gates, the floral capitals and the small birthing house are all features typical of Greek temples. Edfu Temple is dedicated to Horus and it celebrates his victory over his uncle, Set. Set tricked Osiris and killed him. When Horus reached manhood he avenged his father. Several of the temple reliefs depict Horus killing a hippo because Set is represented by the hippopatamus. Each year the priest of the temple donned the mask of Horus and killed a live hippo with a spear in front of the people in order to commemorate this event. Other interesting facts - Egyptian priests had to bathe 4 times a day, they wore papyrus sandals, shaved all of the hair off of their bodies and remained unmarried.

Co'mombo Temple

Greek temple remains and our first stop on the Nile Cruise. Co'mombo was dedicated to the Egyptian gods, Sobek (the crocodile god) and Horus (the falcon-headed son of Isis and Osiris). The view of the temple from the cruise ship on the Nile was particularly impressive. The front gate was destroyed so you can actually see all of the huge columns of the inner court from the river. It is also one of the only temples located right beside the Nile.

The large, circular pit full of green water was where the priests used to keep crocodiles. They caught them, kept them in a crocodile tank and fed them regularly. They did this in honor of Sobek, the crocodile god.

The other notable fact about Co'mombo Temple is that it served as a surgical hospital in ancient times - indeed, the first hospital on record. There is a famous relief showing the pharoah making an offering to the Greek god of medicine. The relief also depicts several medical implements such as tweezers, forcepts, a saw for bones, needles, etc....

Co'mombo also contains a relief depicting the Egyptian calendar. It shows the three seasons: flooding, planting and harvesting.

The images of the gods show musculature, which is another indication that this is a Greek temple.

Best of all, we visited a chamber containing three mummified crocodiles!

Aswan

We took an overnight train from Cairo to Aswan. It was such a nice experience after taking all of the Chinese trains with 6 people stuffed into each open compartment. We had our own compartment with our very own sink inside. It was wonderful! The next morning I didn't have to line up behind 20 Chinese people all waiting to go through their entire grooming process when all I had to do was use the toilet. Stephen's expression in the photo says it all...

Aswan is a really nice town along the Nile River. We got to stay in a fancy hotel on the Elephantine Island in the middle of the river. The views were lovely. We took the ferry right past the hotel (and former winter palace of the king) where Agatha Christie wrote 'Death on the Nile'. We enjoyed the pool after the overnight train ride. We met our wonderful guide, Mohammed at 1pm. He stayed with us throughout our time in Aswan and Luxor. He even went on the Nile cruise with us...nice job for a tour guide! He was very knowledgeable and we enjoyed questioning him all about life in Egypt. Anyway, we visited the High Dam, Philae Temple and the Nubian Museum the first day. The construction of the High Dam was completed in 1971 and it was made possible by help from the Soviet Union. It now protects many communities from flooding. It also generates quite a bit of power for Egypt. The construction of the dam lead to the creation of the world's largest manmade lake, Lake Nasser. It extends all the way to Sudan. There are no longer any crocodiles in the Nile River, but there are over a million in Lake Nasser. I wouldn't want to fall off my boat in there...I am on the High Dam and overlooking Lake Nasser in the photo.

Next, we took a boat out to the Philae Temple.

The entire temple was under water and had to be moved to a higher island. It was taken apart and rebuilt piece by piece. It is a nice example of a temple from the Greek period in Egypt. The columns are in the Greek style and topped with floral capitals. The shrine used to house the statue of Isis and the boat used to carry the statue out of the temple during certain festivals. It was really nice.

Finally, we visited the Nubian museum. Our guide pointed out some important pieces and also showed us the replicas of traditional Nubian houses. Many of the Nubians had to relocate during the construction of the High Dam because their villages were submerged by Lake Nasser. The government provided them with new housing, but they preferred to build their own in typical Nubian style. Tourists now stay in local Nubian villages to experience Nubian culture. Many of the Nubians in Aswan live on the Elephantine Island.

That night we explored Aswan. The people selling things weren't nearly as agressive as the vendors in Cairo so we enjoyed our walk around the city so much more. We even found a local restaurant overlooking the Nile River. The owner greeted us and cooked our food. He made the best hummous I have ever had!

The next day we took a feluca (sailboat) around the island and over to our cruise boat for the Nile Cruise. I loved the feluca. It was so peaceful sailing on the Nile River. We were lucky enough to have a nice breeze up as we sailed. I could have stayed on the feluca all day. Once we were out in the middle of the river our captain spead out a blanket full of local handicrafts to sell to us. He knew he had a captive audience. At least he didn't say anything. He just left them there and let us decide whether we wanted anything or not.

Cairo

We have been enjoying Egypt. It is nice to be on a tour though because all of the vendors are desperate to try to sell you things, especially in Cairo. Everyone wants to bring you into their perfume shop or their papyrus shop... It was nice to hide in the 5 star hotel for a little while. The facilities were great. We got to play tennis on the tennis courts, we frequented the gym and we used the pool most of the day when we arrived.

The second day we had a local Egyptologist take us around the 'Great Pyramid' complex and then we went to see King Zhoser's (from the 3rd dynasty) step pyramid. It was the first burial chamber built in a pyramid. The second day we visited the citadel and mosque of Mohammed Ali, the Egyptian museum, a papyrus making factory, and the Khalili Bazaar. Stephen didn't have much patience for the bazaar. It is difficult to walk through it with everyone calling out to you. It makes you not want to look at anything because then you would be expected to buy it! Our guide was excellent though and we learned a lot. The artefacts recovered from King Tutenkamen's tomb were amazing. The famous gold mask was there and it was really beautiful and bigger than I expected.

Stephen's notes:

Cairo

22 million people live here and 30 million of them try to drive around the streets without concerns for parking, lanes or direction. The odd donkey padding against the traffic doesnt help with the flow either. It's a chaotic city full of cars and honking people. The river's nice though.

Good things
Pyramids - whoppers and guarded by police on camels
Huge mosque on a hill overlooking the city. Inside was quiet and cool with nice carpets and loads of low soft lights more suitable for ballroom dancing.

Bad things
Stick dance - part of the caberet on our Nile Cruise. Men dancing with sticks - as camp as you could imagine..
Mad market - lots of nice smells but the sellers pretty much try to haul you inside their shops and all the porters hiss at you to get you out of their way
Police with guns taking your photo and then charging you for the pleasure
Taxi driver with an unnerving twitch slaloming through the Cairo traffic

Mountain Biking Adventure

Yesterday, we went on a 'downhill' guided mountain bike ride from the top of Doi Suthep, a mountain about 15 km from Chiang Mai. It was really good, but incredibly tough. I think I had what Stephen might call a 'sense of humor' failure when I fell over into the mud after about three hours of intensive cycling. I was exhausted by that point.

We had signed up to do a ride that was 90 percent downhill and suitable for ambitious beginners. However, there were only six people signed to do any tours on our day so our guide took one look at us and said he was going to 'upgrade' our tour. As I was the only girl and two of the guys had signed up for the advanced/expert run, I knew I was in trouble. The upgraded tour really meant uphill. So, after pushing my bike up a few treacherous hills I was pretty tired. I really enjoyed the first few hours, but the downhill was pretty technical. Luckily, I have some experience bouncing over rocks and avoiding deep ruts so I managed to stay on my bicycle. The downhill was also incredibly steep in places. After a few hours we got to a village and I immediately perked up. I was really tired and ready for the promised lunch at the end of the tour. Unfortunately, our guide had other ideas. We ended up going on a tough, single track trail through the jungle and we had to keep stopping to repair bikes. Stephen alone had a puncture, a rear spindle break, a wobbly wheel, his chain came off and he got stuck in a river. Three of the other guys also had punctures and other problems. Fortunately, the guides had all of the equipment to repair the bikes, but it was slow going with so many problems. I was especially miserable when they had to repair a bike in the middle of the bug-infested jungle.

Soon, I was too tired to push my bike up any more hills. Stephen and the guide took turns with my bike. Fortunately, we were almost finished. I think the upgraded tour ended up being an extra 10km of uphill and difficult terrain. All the guys were impressed that I made it to the end and many said their relationship wouldn't have survived it. I managed to keep going, but Stephen was worried I would vent to him later when we were away from everyone. Really I was too tired to even vent...If we would have stopped in the first village it would have been perfect for me.

I really enjoyed my lunch and I slept especially well on the train to Bangkok last night. We managed to make it back to our hotel in time to use the outdoor shower and go for a swim in the pool to get all of the mud off before we jumped on the overnight train. It was a really good train. There were only four people in each compartment and you could actually sit up in your bunk. They even had curtains and reading lights. Best of all, they had a western-style toilet with toilet paper which made a big change from the overnight trains in China!

Doi Inthanon National Park - Thailand

Chiang Mai continued..

Good things
Wandering round the huge nightmarket slurping lychee rice wine
Thai guitarists with harmonicas doing Dylan and CCR covers
Overnight train to Bangkok was much more comfortable than the ones in China and you got fed at your table. They did insist on leaving the lights on all night though which necessitated top cat masks for a snooze
Downhill moutain biking through the jungle overlooking the city

Bad things
Pushing the bike up steep inclines, getting a puncture;breaking rear sprocket, chain coming off, wobbly front wheel, getting stuck in a river and flying off the bike headfirst - cartoon style into a sandy cliff. Got completely filthy and then had to sneak into a guesthouse to use their swimming pool and shower before we jumped on the night train to Bangkok
Thai guitarists playing banjos
Getting bitten by things in the yoga class while doing the relaxation
Taking a granny tour to see the Doi National park. Got shuttled around in a van and dropped off to see various things. Nice waterfalls, pagodas for the king and queen when they eventually snuff it, pretty flowers replacing opium poppies; nice villages next to paddy fields, nice if you're a granny...

Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai's old town is full of monks and temples and surrounded by a moat. All the hostels are stuffed inside the moat with the sausage selling markets, cafes and tuk tuk drivers. Nice mountains overlooking the town in the west are supposed to be linked to the Himalayan chain. Reminds me of being in Peru. Have had two yoga sessions today where I got tangled up in knots. They kept telling me to put my arms in the air with my eyes closed, only they didn't realise that I was the only one below a high speed rotating fan. Looked like I was snake dancing with one eye open while trying to avoid getting any hands severed....

Good things

Northern sausage

Found cocktail bar where you get to sit in the gutter and listen to African fusion jazz

Bad things

Bed bugs, nibbling insects

Mekong River Cruise

Stephen and I managed to find a deal on a two day cruise up the Mekong River to the Thai border. During peak season it is double the price and the boat is usually completely full, carrying 40 + passengers. On our cruise there were only 16 people. It was great! We could sprawl out all over the boat and take turns sitting up on the bow.

Each day we battled against the current for about 7 hours, but the scenery was spectacular. The river snaked its way through the mountains and past teak plantations. Hmong, Yao and Khmer villages populated the hills along the river. In some places the river was calm, reflecting images of the hills towering above it. In other places, we fought our way through small whirlpools and larger rapids. The first night we stayed at the Luangsay Lodge, a picturesque wooden village nestled in the hills. It was built just past the town of Pak Beng. Nearly the entire town turned out on the banks of the river to wave as we went by...

We had a delicious meal and chatted with our travelling companions. We met a fun Canadian couple who have been sailing around the world for 10 years. They had several stories to tell about their adventures on remote islands. We had a great time with them! The lodge was comfortable and we slept well, but they had us up bright and early for breakfast at 6am - definitely not Stephen's favorite part of the journey!

The next day, we continued chugging up the Mekong. We stopped and visited a Khmer village. The wooden houses were built on stilts and all of the farm animals lived below them. There were baby piglets, chicks, turkeys, puppies and kittens roaming around. I loved all of the animals! There was no electricity, but they had managed to construct one aerial giving them access to a single TV. The government had also provided them with running water. It was an interesting visit, but I felt a little awkward disrupting the harmony of their lives. It was almost like we came to look at them in the same way we would look at animals in the zoo....so I was glad we didn't make any other stops. It was interesting to watch the local fisherman dropping and gathering their nets from long, wooden canoes. Villagers also pan for gold when the river is low.

We arrived at the Thai border about 5pm. We quickly found a place to stay for the night. The owner of the Bamboo Riverside Guest House was a real character. He had a lovely restaurant overlooking the river and he took great pride in serving up authentic Mexican food. It was actually really good, especially his salsa. He orders his pinto beans from Bangkok so that he can make real Mexican refried beans. I hadn't had Mexican food since our California visit so it was a refreshing change. He also entertained us with stories of former disgruntled customers and he gave us his philosophy on everything from guitar music to cooking fresh food and running a guest house. He was a real character. He was Thai, but he looked an awful lot like Carlos Santana!

Waterfalls and kayaking, Laos

Luang Prabang Laos continued..

Good things

Found the waterfall area with loads of tropical pools to swim in amongst the forest. Clear blue pools, cascading falls and an enclosure for moon bears to play together. Not a lot of publicity for this place but it was one of the most outstanding places that we've visited.Canoed through rapids in an inflatable canoe, pausing for the odd swim in the water.

Bad things

Somehow my positioning at the end of the boat encouraged copious quantities of river water to slush into my shorts so the boat didn't serve it's purpose very well. Fits in the boot of a car easily though and only took a couple of minutes to pump up

Sunset, Luang Prabang

I suppose Luang Pragang is the travellers Nirvana - pretty 100 year old houses set on a cliff overlooking the Mekong river, quiet main street with orange robed monks wandering along and occasionally hogging the internet looking at badhabits.com or something. Hot during the day so locals snooze and tourist drink iced coffee and swat flies and occasionally the other way round when you stop concentrating. Nice dinners - lots of fish and rice and banana pancakes. Have upgraded from a cheap room without sound insulation (3 pounds per night) to a nice airconditioned room overlooking the Mekong (4 times the price). This one actually gets cleaned which is preferable when you have to live with vomit woman . The airconditioning makes a refreshing change when don't have a power cut. One a day at the moment.

Lots of tours available as always. Walks to here, paddling to there and four day rides on elephants somewhere else. Four days! Riding an elephant is like taking a bus in Clapham. It's a bit hot and smelly, slightly uncomfortable but you can get somewhere else in 20 minutes. Like Streatham. Who wants to go for 4 hours let alone 4 days and still be in Streatham. It would dive you and the elephant mad. It's nicer here than Streatham granted but you don't need to have an elephant to enjoy it. Having said that we might take a ride to see a waterfall and have a splash in the river this afternoon

Good things

Night markets with low single light bulbs illuminating the wares. Creates a nice cosy glow while you look at ornate chess sets and cushion covers on the way to the pubThe moped is again the transport of choice. The whole family can get on to scoot around. Looks fun. I've even seen a labrador stuffed along the bottom. Could solve the LA commuting problem without adding more lanes Watching the sunset over the mountains from the temple in the middle of the old town

Bad things

Very thin walls meant that our neighbours kept waking us up not that they were particularly noisy. Just rubbish insulation. Walls were made from bamboo leaves. Should feed walls to pandas.Becky getting stung in the eye by a disoriented ex flying insect and then getting stomach ache from anti malaria tablets and then being sick all night. Neighbours decided to go elsewhere. No noise from next door but hourly retching did not make for comfortable evening with or without earplugs...Everybody has to work here (apart from us),even the smallest children who sell beads and jewelry

Luang Prabang, Laos

I am sitting in an internet cafe in Luang Prabang, Laos, surrounded by several young Buddhist monks with shaved heads wearing traditional orange robes and typing away on keyboards. It is kind of a surreal experience. It would make an amusing photo, but I don't want to be disrespectful. You will just have to use your imaginations!

I have just recovered from a Laotian version of Montezuma's Revenge.... actually it was more like food poisoning...
I guess we have been lucky to have staved it off for so long. I am feeling much better today, but we have upgraded our accommodation from a $6 a night dark room with fan to a light, airy air-conditioned room with cable TV as a result of my illness. Stephen has been wonderful running around town buying up water and medicine and worrying about me....he is relieved that I am feeling better.

Luang Prabang is a charming town, especially at night. There is one long main street lined with two-story French colonial buildings with ornate shutters and wooden balconies. There are no glaring street lamps. Instead the street is lit up at night with soft, twinkling fairy lights. Each night the Hmong people from remote hillside villages, come into town to set up a night market underneath brightly colored red canopies. They sell beautiful paintings, wood carvings, paper lanterns and silk table liners and pillow case covers. There are several cute cafes and restaurants along the main street, but since my funny tummy I have been far more selective about what I am eating.
We are on a peninsula surrounded by two rivers, the mighty Mekong is on one side and I can't recall the name of the river on the other. I will have to look it up! ....There are also plenty of beautiful temples richly decorated in gold. We have seen some lovely interiors featuring mosaics made from Japanese glass.

Side note - Do you like Stephen's new look? I think he looks a bit like a serial killer myself...

More photos of the temples of Angkor

The Amazing Temples of Angkor - Angkor Wat and Bayon

Siem Reap Cambodia

Very impressed with this little town. Lots of cheap tuk tuks to whizz you around, lots of fish amok dinners for a few dollars. Everyone accepted dollars rather than handfulls of ria and it's close to the temples of Angkor. This is like a huge national park with 50? temples dotted all over the place. Each one is like an ancient ruined city of pyramid and the surrounding forest sets it off perfectly. The soil is very sandy so it looks like the New Forest..with the odd palm tree and elephant. I particularly like the ruins that have been crushed by massive 800 year old trees that have grown into the stone walls and roofs.They look like scary images from a Grimms Fairy tale book. Not that I still have any...

Good things

Exploring temples surrounded by ancient forests Indian Jones style.

Blind masseurs although they kept banging into things. I kept making faux pas by speaking loudly or moving around silently so they couldn't find me. I even mentioned that I would take the red basket rather than the blue one as if that helped them with anything.

Mopeds whizzing around with a whole dead pig on the back with its feet in the air

Nice weather for exploring with predictable torrential rain at 2pm

Watching the FA cup final in a tin shack and trying to explain who Portmouth were to the Cambodians.

Being delivered to the international airport in the back of a tuk tuk

Bad things

Taxi driver driving at 10mph trying to sell us tours. He said it was his first day as a taxi driver. Not sure that he had ever driven before. Even the chickens overtook us on the way to town.Lost hat. Bought another hat. Found old hat.Walking at night through huge puddles in the sand. Completely dark - no street lights. Only the sound of me sliding a flip flop into the cold ooze.Being charged 20US for a visa and then 25US to leaveInternet slow so no pictures on the blog for a while

Royal Palace Tour and tea at the Oriental Hotel

Bangkok

We managed to find the quiet part of the city where you could wander around the jazz playing coffee shops and market stalls without any traffic and suit sellers. Also the temples were't far away so we could do one and then nip back for a culture recovery or snooze. Took the skytrain to go into the city but had a huge deluge of rain for a couple of hours and got stuck in a shopping mall for luxury items. Found lots of couples with miserable blokes hanging around to keep out of the rain

Good things:

Museum tour, including the royal puppets that no-one knows how to use since the puppeteer died. Lack of planning there. Also they don't have queens on the chess board but have a deputy king instead.

Palace visit - lots of gold pointy bits on the roof and temples with Buddha statues that you can't point your socks at.

Whizzing along the river on the taxi boat trying to remember where your stop is.

Free upgrade to executive lounge for flight to Cambodia. Scoffed loads of cakes but made a bit of a prat of myself by eating the bamboo leaf packaging of one of the savoury numbers. Who would be a panda....?

Bad things
Monsoon season - splashing through puddles in sandals and smelly poncho to get to dinner. Expensive posh tea and cakes at the Oriental Hotel. Had to sneak in to avoid the flip flop police.

Chasing after cycling food vendors to get some chicken on a stick--

National Museum - Bangkok

Both Stephen and I were pleasantly surprised by Bangkok. It helps that we were staying in the Banglamphu district, a haven for wearied backpackers. It is a short stroll to tasty, inexpensive restaurants, outdoor markets for shopping and cozy cafes. We were also within walking distance of the National Museum, the Grand Palace and other well-known temples in the historic Ratanakosin area.

On Wednesday we woke up early in order to join the free English tour of the National Museum. They only have one tour each week. Our guide was an entertaining and knowledgeable, American expat. He is an enthusiastic retired businessman who has a passion for history. He has accompanied archaeologists to Angkor Wat and he attends all the events and lectures of the Southeast Asia Foreign Correspondents' Club (as he dabbles in foreign correspondence on the side).

We had an especially thorough tour because there were several women in our group training to be English museum guide volunteers. They had all come to Bangkok with their husbands, but they are not allowed to take jobs from local Thai people so they cannot work. They have joined the museum volunteers group to give them something to do. The group plans several outings and events. It was interesting to talk to them about their experiences living in Thailand. Best of all, we had an excellent tour although I think Stephen was fed up after it exceeded three hours! Luckily, there was a really good restaurant on sight. Some Thai food perked him up again.

I learned so much about Thai Buddhism and the history of the Ramas (the kings....) on the tour. I won't bore you with all of it, but Rama IV is the one portrayed in 'The King and I'. He was a gifted scientist that predicted a solar eclipse. He took his entire family out into the countryside to watch it. His prediction was correct, but the area he chose to witness it was infested with malaria-carrying mosquitoes. His entire family got sick. He died of malaria. Fortunately, his son recovered and became one of the most respected kings of Siam, Rama V.

Later that day we took the passenger ferry. I love traveling by boat. It is much more peaceful. We passed several beautiful temples I want to go back to see. Finally, we disembarked at the connection with the sky train. We took the sky train to Siam Square, but unfortunately we had to stay confined to a posh shopping mall (much to Stephen's discomfort) because it rained heavily the rest of the night! At least I didn't find anything to buy!

Phang Nga/ James Bond Island Tour

Stephen and I decided to take a tour of Phang Nga Bay and James Bond Island for our last day in Phuket. Well, actually, I had to talk Stephen into it because he wasn't so keen after our last 4 Island tour experience. I was hoping the weather would be okay after I finally convinced him to go. Luckily it was for the most part....

Our guide spoke English much better than many of the guides we have had. He studies tourism at the university on weekends and watches 5 movies in a row in English whenever he has a day off in order to practice. We started our tour at the 'monkey temple'. I will have to look up the Thai name for it. As we arrived it began to pour. Stephen gave me a glaring 'I told you so' look as we dashed for cover in the sacred caves next to the temple.

The first large cavern featured a huge reclining Buddha statue. There were also monkeys everywhere at the temple. The locals have chopped down the trees so they no longer have any natural food to eat. They have become dependent on tourists feeding them bananas and peanuts. I find this quite sad because many of them die during the low season. So - I hope everyone takes the 'Do not feed the animals' signs in National Parks seriously. I know I certainly will from now on....

I prefer to see the monkeys in their natural habitat, but I was able to get some excellent shots of a mother and baby monkey because they were so unafraid of humans. Whenever anyone bought bananas they all went crazy and practically attacked the person holding the food. It was pretty scary. When Stephen and I wandered further into the back of another dark cave, we were startled to see several monkeys hidden in the shadows of the ledges above us. They almost seemed sinister looking down on us. I felt like I was in the middle of a scene from an 'Indiana Jones' movie.

Next, we took a longtail boat through the mangrove forests of Phang Nga Bay. There are 120 karst islands in the area. The scenery is spectacular. First, we headed out to James Bond Island. This is really a rather small piece of rock sticking up out of the sea surrounded by a larger, more attractive island. It is famous because it featured in the James Bond movie, 'The Man with the Golden Gun', which I have yet to see. We were lucky because it wasn't very crowded as we visited during the low season. Apparently, it is heaving with people during the high season. We did have to brave some rather large waves and fierce winds as our longtail boat battled its way out to the island.

The next activity of the day was my favorite. We headed back into the protection of the bay and used kayaks to explore the secret hongs (rooms) in the rock. A young boy from the nearby Muslim sea village on stilts rowed us around the islands in a kayak. As we approached the first small cave in the rocks he told us to duck. We had to lie flat to avoid scraping our noses on the roof of the cave. When we emerged on the other side we were amazed to find ourselves in a large, cavernous room with moss-covered rock walls and an open ceiling so we could look up at the sky. It was a pretty special site. We went on to weave our way in and out of the islands to explore several more of the hongs. It was a fantastic experience. Stephen was a little worried about me dropping the new camera in the water as I tried to videotape us passing below the caves whilst lying flat on my back. Fortunately, the camera survived and it didn't even rain while we were out in the kayaks!!!!

Lastly, we went to the nearby Muslim village built on wooden stilts out over the water. It was an interesting place, but when you headed away from the dock you soon found yourself in a large, covered market. It was impossible to get out of the maze of covered streets. We tried to avoid the women with monkeys trying to get us to pay to take pictures with them. Our guide warned us that the monkeys sometimes bite. We finally found our way out of the market, but ended up looking into inhabitants homes as they were cooking dinner. So - went back undercover and tried once more to locate the beautiful mosque we had seen from the boat. When we finally found it, it was time to head back.

Overall, I really enjoyed the tour. The hongs and mangrove bay of Phang Nga are really spectacular. I would highly recommend them to anyone traveling to the area.

Phuket Town

We took a much better mini-van from Koh Lanta all the way back to Phuket Town. Sadly, it was our last night with Jenny and Guy. Phuket Town is inland and away from the beaches on the island of Phuket. Because of this, there are far less tourists staying here and prices are much cheaper. When we arrived at the guest house we had randomly chosen in the Rough Guide, it was full. Fortunately, the mini-van driver noticed how lost we looked as we pondered our next step. He took us to the Crystal Inn- an inexpensive and perfectly comfortable hotel, albeit a bit ordinary. I think Stephen was relieved that we were no longer in a 5 star resort. Too much luxury makes him uncomfortable...We had a delicious Italian dinner in a restaurant highly recommended by the 'Rough Guide' and everyone managed to relax now that we were within taxi distance of the airport. The restaurant was in a charming old building that was very tastfully decorated. The next morning we wandered around the historical streets of Phuket Town. Unfortunately, it was a Sunday and everything was closed...at least we managed to find a place that served breakfast. After getting slightly lost a local woman on a moped helped us find our way back to the hotel.

If I were coming back to Phuket my first choice of places to stay would be Kata Beach. I still think it is my favorite beach and the high street is charming. Stephen and I went there for the day on Sunday and discovered a really cool reggae bar overlooking the water at the southern end of the beach (see the photos of the beach in front of the brightly-colored styrofoam beer holders of the reggae bar). It was a very windy day so we didn't stay in the ocean long because the conditions were so rough. At least the water temperature was still pleasant and it wasn't raining. We returned to Phuket Town that night and ate at a hole in the wall Thai restaurant that served up a delicious chicken with cashew nut dinner. They even arranged our rice in the shape of a teddy bear...and it was super cheap, much to Stephen's delight! I would recommend Phuket Town for its brightly painted historical streets, the convenience of the post office (my best post office experience so far...), the inexpensive shopping and delightful massage parlours (like 'Kim's' next to our hotel). In fact at 'Kim's' it was beautifully decorated with colorful floating flowers and lovely smells of mint as we reclined in leather chairs whilst having our feet rubbed with warm, minty oil. It was heavenly. They have fixed it up really nicely....so Phuket Town is not a bad option for a place to stay on Phuket and the taxi ride to the beach is pretty inexpensive.

4 Island Tour

Stephen's notes:
Took a day trip to visit 4 islands and go snorkelling. The boat was hugely overcrowded, the captain smoked joints one after the other; and there weren't enough life jackets. On the way back we had to hang on for our lives in very stormy seas as we circumnavigated the island and went the long way back. Also the engine kept stopping and our direction kept changing. We thought we would have to swim for it..Also to get delivered back to the hotel they had 8 of us in the back of a pick up sitting on the edge without hand rails or seat backs. Had to hang on to the person opposite and lean into the corners. Fortunately we didn't have to stop suddenly. Note - road accident are the number 1 cause of death and injury in Thailand. Hmm....

Becky's additional comments:

I thoroughly enjoyed the beginning of the 4 island tour because I left the overcrowded seating area inside and went up to the top deck while we cruised out to the first island. Hardly anyone was sitting up there and it was actually bright in the morning. The sunshine glistened on the water as we cruised out through the mangrove lined harbour entrance on the east side of the island. We even managed to spot a few monkeys in the mangrove trees. I couldn't resist the urge to sing Christopher Cross ('Sailing' - Heather will remember that I used to play it before bed every night in college...). I snapped photos of the karst islands in the distance and enjoyed the feeling of solitude on the top deck. When we arrived at the first snorkelling site all feeling of solitude came to an end as the 50 people on board our boat came out from underneath to try to grab the snorkelling gear. I managed to get one for Stephen and me so we could get into the water before the hoards descended. We headed off away from the others against the current (so we could just drift back to the boat when we were finished). We found a piece of coral surrounded by colorful reef fish. We just hovered over the top of it. Stephen and I spotted a small, black octopus swimming along the bottom and we followed a tiny, speckled shark as it swam away from the other fish. The conditions were very good for snorkelling when you got away from the other tourists splashing and kicking about, scaring away all of the fish.

Slumming it on the island of Koh Lanta

Here we are on the almost deserted island of Koh Lanta. We are staying at a 5 start luxury resort and enjoying all of its amenities. This is probably the nicest place Stephen and I have stayed during our entire trip. We were able to get an amazing deal because it is the low season and hardly anyone is here. Unfortunately, we have also experienced a bit of the low season weather...at least there are plenty of things to do at the resort. As you can see from the photos we have still managed to get in plenty of pool time, Thai massage sessions and outdoor dining and sunset experiences. We opted to go for luxury after the mini-van journey from hell...

We booked it at the local tourist agency because the passenger ferries had stopped running from Krabi. When the mini-van turned up at 'The Dawn of Happiness' resort we were dismayed to see that it was already full of backpackers. The driver then attempted to manipulate our backpacks into a tiny space at the back of the van whilst simultaneously hitting the unfortunate couple sitting in the back seat. When he realized it would be impossible to squeeze all of the bags in, he then attempted to attach them to the roof. We were not convinced that they were properly secured and we were really hoping that it wouldn't start to rain again...

I squeezed in with the couple in the backseat while Guy had to sit up front with the driver and a random women in a Mickey Mouse t-shirt. Stephen and Jenny completed the 2nd and 3rd rows in the middle of the van. There were 10 of us crammed in with virtually no space for bags or legs. First, we stopped at a tour agency in Krabi where all the tour operators looked at the minivan tires with concern. As you can imagine, this made us feel so much better about the journey. Fortunately, the random woman got off and gave Guy a bit more space in the front seat. After the tire stop, our driver proceeded to speed down the road dodging mopeds right and left while at the same time talking on his cell phone. Then, when we reached the next town he pulled over to buy himself some cigarettes while the rest of us waited in the sweltering heat of the van.

Soon we were on the road again, only to pull off once more to fill up the gas tank. By now, we were all getting really frustrated with our driver. We finally made it to the ferry waiting area. By now we were all desperate for the loo and desperate to get out of the minivan! We all bought snacks and waited to board the ferry. While we were away from the van one of the German passengers actually had some money stolen from his bag. The driver apologized and locked the van, but several of the passengers suspected him of the theft....

The crossing was uneventful and soon we were underway again. Somehow we had picked up another woman and a child, both of whom were somehow squeezed in between Guy and the driver. Koh Lanta is actually made up of two islands. The first one does not have any tourist accommodation so we had to take a second ferry to the main island. After we crossed, our crazy driver pulled in to a tourist office in the middle of nowhere. We were told we should all get in taxis and pay to go to our hotels. All ten tourist in the minivan had been told that the driver would take us to our reserved hotels. Plus, the taxi drivers were trying to charge more to go down the road than we had paid for the entire journey! We were all furious. The German and British guy climbed back into the van and refused to budge. We all gathered around it with our stuff refusing to leave unless the driver took us to our hotels (even though most of us didn't actually have a hotel reserved yet....but we certainly didn't want to be left in the middle of nowhere). The driver finally relented and then ended up getting lost and driving us beyond most of the main resorts and hotels. At that point we all demanded to get out to try our own luck south of the island. Luckily, there was an air-conditioned coffee shop across the street so we all went in to try and compose ourselves before beginning the hotel bargaining process. In the end, we ended up getting an amazing deal at the Langham Palace resort next to the coffee shop. Jenny had seen it on the internet and ruled it out because of the expense, but we managed to get it for less than half of the internet price. It was beautiful...complete with four pools, tennis courts, movie theater, library, gaming room, spa, massage area, restaurant and lovely oriental gardens. It felt like heaven after the crazy journey. They even included the amazing breakfast buffet in the deal!

It was the perfect place to wait out the rainstorms and strong winds that hit the island during our stay. We even had our own DVD players in the rooms and we booked a few Thai massage sessions to keep us occupied....

Cooking with Mrs. Ya

On our second day in Krabi we went to a cooking lesson with Mrs. Ya. She is originally from Cambodia and trained at the prestigious Intercontinental Cooking School in Bangkok. She was highly entertaining and especially excited to have some males in the cooking class! Mrs. Ya said the only males in the cooking school with her were 'ladyboys' and they didn't really represent the masculine sex. I guess Thai men do not cook in the traditional scheme of things. Apparently Thai women attract husbands by their ability to bang the vegetables to release their flavours and aromas before throwing them into the curry paste. We all attempted to bang the vegetables to demonstrate our cooking prowess, but unfortunately, most of the vegetables flew right off of the table.

It was a very enjoyable day. I am going to have a go at cooking some of the recipes we learned once we have a kitchen. I will definitely leave out a few of the chilis, though. If I each too many of them I get the hiccups.....

Krabi - Dawn of Happiness Resort

After our three day jungle/lake tour we went to 'The Dawn of Happiness'. This was a locally-owned beachfront resort recommended by one of Jenny's colleagues. We stayed in quaint cottages surrounded by lovely gardens. Hammocks and wooden swings abounded. It was very relaxing. The restaurant was tasty and I was thrilled to be able to order porridge (oatmeal) with bananas each morning!

When we arrived the tide was way out so we were a bit disappointed with the view (and the impossibility of swimming). However, when the tide came back in the beach looked much nicer so we felt a bit more cheerful.

The first day we decided to take a longtail boat over to Railey Beach. It is famous for rock-climbing. East Railey is full of mangrove trees and quite scenic, but West Railey is the real jewel - a white, sandy beach shadowed by dramatic limestone karsts. Unfortunately, it started to rain a few minutes after our arrival and it didn't cease the entire day. Luckily, we found a nice place to eat lunch and pass the time reading books. We finally had to try to get a longtail boat back when the rain lightened up a bit. We had to pay the man for three more people because he was going to sit there all day waiting to fill the boat while we got soaked in the rain. We were happy to get back to 'The Dawn of Happiness' for a delicious Thai meal.

Krabi - Dawn of Happiness
Notes from Stephen....

Good things
Stayed in little garden huts on the beach
Had cooking lesson with Mrs Ya where the technique is to hit everything with a basher and heat it in coconut milk with lots of garlic and chili peppers to make it yum yum and exciting in the stomach. She also made interesting throat noises after she said things....urghh. Apparently the men would choose their wives based on their ability with the bashing stick.

Bad things
2am mouse trying to eat our roof
Looking for the night market in Krabi but settling for a deserted restaurant by a noisy road and next to a sewer.
Getting garroted bu boat lines whilst walking back along the beach at night at high tide
Getting a long tail boat to a paradise beach only to sit out a storm in a cafe and then have to pay for non existent passengers to get the boat man to take us home.
Stupid name. Take me to the dawn of happiness driver. Would get you something else in Bangkok....

Cheow Lan Lake

Cheow Lan Lake - National Park Thailand
Stephen's Notes:

We got a high speed long tail boat across the lake to stay on a floating bamboo village between two islands. I think this was one of my Thailand highlights as the food was nice, the scenery was spectacular and you managed to see loads of wildlife close up. The hut wasn't up to much. Nothing closed properly but the mozzie nets seemed to work and all our neighbours were exhausted from paddling their canoes so they were quiet.

Good things
Views of the lake with whispy clouds outside the front and back doors
Climbing into a limestone cave and not banging my head
Black and yellow hornbills whizzing around the mountains
Rare orangy gibbons making cooey noises from the tops of the trees. Fastest swingers through the trees..
Huge portions of rice at lunch time
Free canoes for exploring and finding monkeys
Bathtime was in the lake

Bad things
Obstacle course to get to the toilets at night time. The path moved, bits of wood weren't tacked on properly and you had to take a lantern with you to see where you were going....
Leeches attaching themselves the wife's legs on the soggy jungle walk. Required constant leech alert
Sandals getting gunged up with thick mud and then slipping and sliding onto the bamboo rafts
Falling into the lake when trying to get into the canoe wearing my 'professional' dragon boat t-shirt

Khao Sok National Park

Jenny arranged a great 3-day tour into Khao Sok National Park. We spent the first two days staying in treehouses along the Sok River. The first day we had ladies come to give us Thai massages in our rooms. It was wonderful. They are incredibly strong and really dig into your muscles twisting you into all sorts of interesting positions. It is like yoga, but without the work.
We also attempted to adjust to the humidity and keep cool during the day. Fortunately, there was a swimming area in the river just outside of our treehouses. We went for a paddle to cool off.

Day 2 we went on an elephant trek. It felt really awkward to be positioned on little metal seats on top of the elephant. Stephen and I each thought that we were leaning too far over to our own side. Pretty soon we adjusted to the bumpy ride and the elephant guide with sharp stick walking behind hollering 'Hai!' every so often to get the elephant moving. Whenever he did this we clutched the sides because it got even bumpier as the elephant tried to speed up.

On the way back from the waterfall our guide had me climb down onto the elephant's neck. This was great (a little scary at first)! I felt like I had much more control balancing on the elephant's neck and best of all - I could rub her head and shoo away the insects. She was lovely! Whenever I started sliding too far one way or the other she would use her big ears to press my legs into the side to keep up. She was really smart! The kings of Siam and Burma used to fight each other on elephants. They had to have several men positioned around the elephants' great legs to protect them from attack. They even had special elephant armour.

Stephen's notes:
Kho Sok National Park

Limestone karst forest with loads monkeys. A chance to start popping the malaria pills..

Good things
Lazy days floating in the river and sleeping in mosquito nets although the mosquitos are not so lazy..
Monkeys turn up at around 5pm to play in the trees above our little tree house
Had a lumpy ride on an elephant in the jungle and gave her some bananas
New desert - bananas in honeyed coconut milk - it's like rocket fuel!

Bad things
Monkeys try to take all the tiles off the roofs - fortunately it didn't rain

Phuket

Stephen and I attempted to negotiate a deal at the airport for our first three nights on Phuket. We ended up staying in a very ordinary hotel on Karon Beach, but it grew on us as we began to recognize the merits of the central location. We could walk to a beautiful, sandy beach in minutes. I imagine it is very crowded during the peak season, but it was virtually empty because it was the start of the 'wet' season. The water was warm like bathwater and crystal clear. We spent the first day bobbing over bumpy waves that crashed right on the shore. We also found an inexpensive outdoor food tent that served the best Pad Thai I have ever tried.

On Day 2 we went on a day diving excursion with DiveAsia. We headed out to the islands of Racha Yai and Racha Noi to do three dives. Because we booked last minute we ended up with a portly Dutch divemaster who volunteers to be on-call at the dive center whenever he is in Thailand. He spend part of each year in Thailand and is building a house on Phuket with his Thai wife. He was a character, but he didn't really know the dive sites very well. He managed to point out a moray eel, two venomous lionfish with their graceful, but dangerous feathery appendages, a Godfrey sea cucumber that looks like one long octupus' tentacle. We swam with a school of sleek, silvery barracuda that all changed direction at the same time. We also spotted several of the reef fish that we spied in Australia: butterflyfish, parrotfish, anemonefish ('Nemo's'), moorish idols, etc... They are so colorful it is a pleasure to watch them.

On our final dive we leapt of the boat after a group getting their certification and then watched in dismay as the boat disappeared around the island. Our Dutch guide mistakenly jumped off in the wrong spot. We made the best of it and followed him around. It was a really nice area full of a variety of soft and stony coral and fish. He soon became concerned when he couldn't see the other group so we popped up to see if we could spot their bubbles. When we surfaced we didn't see anyone except a small fishing boat. I told myself at least we could hitch a ride with the fisherman if the boat didn't return for us. I wasn't convinced that they had been counting everyone on and off of the boat like they did in Australia. We went back under to use some more of our air. Fortunately, he heard the noise of the boat as it returned for the first group so we surfaced and boarded the dive boat while we had the chance. He then attempted to make amends by buying us drinks. It was a really nice trip overall with lots of marine life to look at and great visibility. I was able to consolidate my diving knowledge and luckily had enough control of my buoyancy at this point to avoid landing on the lionfish and other stinging things!

It wasn't until the third day that we had any rain. It was pouring in the morning so Stephen had a Thai massage while I got my haircut. Fortunately, the rain stopped and it became hot and sunny. We took an overpriced tuk tuk to Kata Beach realizing too late that it was within walking distance. We had seen it as we picked up people for our diving trip the day before. It was even nicer than Karon - more sheltered and less developed. We went for a swim and then rushed back to meet Jenny and Guy at the fancy villas she booked for us. They were really lovely and built into the hillside just before Karon Beach. They had just flown in so we had a birthday dinner for Jenny and then retired early so we could get up for the fancy breakfast buffet the next morning!

I really loved Phuket, especially the clear, warm water. I have heard many people complain of the crowds, but it was nice and tranquil during the low season (we did avoid Patong which was probably a good decision).

Beijing

Last night in China. Finally found the Olympic stadium after much mouth gaping and scratching of heads. There are no signs until you get within 100 yards and then they have a small blue sign with a stadium symbol and "Good Luck". Need to improve things for August methinks. It looks nice but it is surrounded by unfinished roads, mud, cement and little old men with wheel barrows. When you get close half the red army are there to stop close up photos and there are lots of blacked out cars whizzing around and running over your feet. Had to go through 2 lines of heavily guarded police to get a coffee at TGI Fridays next to the stadium. Not many customers...

Good things
Fantastic views from the Great Wall of China. Incredible that they built it nearly 2000 years ago. Amazing that the Monguls broke though it in the 14th Century and still surprising that the Americans or going to have another go on the Mexican border. They don't work but at least this one looks nice complete with chasing locals that try to sell stuff running up the hills.
Huge palace grounds of the Forbidden City built in 1420. Lots of repainting for the tourists

Bad things
Rice wine that smells like blue cheese and should be used to clean windows
Looking at maps and still having no idea where you are
Dust in the air for choking sunsets
Taxi drivers that can't find the hotel
Tian'amen square - just a big car park surrounded by 4 lanes of traffic for flag raising and hastling tourists
Travelling in the tube at armpit sniffing rush hour
Buns that looked like cinamon swirls but were really made from beans
Walking boots have finally cracked and I don't have Al to glue them back together. Left boot proving very effective at pumping water into my socks for soggy shopping trips

Xi'an - Terracotta Warriors

Good things
Terracotta Army randonly found by a farmer in the 1970s. Emperors were mad weren't they. Not sure that the clay models would have helped him in the afterlife or the concubines who were buried while still alive..
Colourful Muslim market area for cheap dinners and mosque garden walking
Found Pizza Hut for much needed cheese injection. They don't eat cheese in China and it has to be imported from Hong KongCycling on the city walls although you had to cough your way along two of the sides because of all the building dust in the air.

Bad things
Train trip was a challenge. Had to sleep on the top bunk with 1 foot of head space and feet sticking into the corridor. Also right next to the smoking area where the locals puffed furiously through the night. Learnt not to wear sandals to go to the toilets which were holes in the floor for squating. They get a bit full and there is a huge risk of sliding into the danger area when you go around a bend...
Was tempted to tickle everyone's feet in the carriage when walking through
Kept losing vegetables off my skewer on fondue night
Flute player played the chorus to Titanic continuously outside our hotel window. Occasionally played Happy Birthday.
Noodling guitar player in rubbish electo band at a dodgy nightclub
Sellers starting bidding at 3 times the going rate for stuff. Need to walk away a few times with them chasing after you.

Yichang

We finished our Three Gorges Cruise in Yichang, an industrial city. Normally the tour doesn't stay in Yichang, but our cruise was moved up one day (and upgraded to a Chinese 5 star cruise - not to be confused with western 5 star luxary, but nice nonetheless). Yichang is pretty ugly, possibly more typical of a large, Chinese city than the places we have been stopping on our tour. It did have a few redeeming features, such as a large, children's park complete with Mickey Mouse statues, mazes, boats, a zoo and nice playground equipment. Here is Stephen's take on the lovely city of Yichang...

Yichang City
Rubbish

Good things
Had huge bubble bath in the hotel
Managed to post some postcards by standing in the middle of the post office and flapping them in the general area of the staff

Bad things
Found nightclub where they sing karaoke as loud as they possibly can paying little attention to the beat or backing tune. Old couples were walzing and the audience was furiously shaking clappers. Chinese entertainment on a wet Monday night...

1950s Hackney. A place of rubble and sogginess... and the internet shop smells of wee and smoke so I won't be here very long and quite fancy nipping off for a bath and a game of cards.

Yangtse River - Three Gorges Cruise

Yangtze River and the 3 Gorges
It's the third longest river in the world and has the biggest dam in the world. 110 m high, 280 m long and can produce enough power to boil the kettle of 10% of the families in China - equivalent to 3 nuclear power stations.

Cruised for three days on a 5 star ship with a cabin that had air conditioning and a balcony overlooking the side of the boat - which was useful because it was absolutely freezing outside - managed to enjoy the scenery from under the duvet. Visited temples, looked at gorges and then got back quickly under the duvet......

Good things
Going through enormous canel locks
Took a boat trip up some rapids where the men have to get out, jump into the cold water and haul the boat with ropes. They have 6 in each boat. 4 paddlers, the captain who steers and another captain who wears wellies and doesn't have to do much. One of our paddlers was 82. That's how you solve the pension crisis!
Pretty folk singing by our guide
Housemaid made us both green tea after our trip away from the boat.
Warm face cloths each time we got back on the boat. Gave my armpits a quick rub to freshen up as I assumed that this is what they were for.

Bad things
Crew caberet night - cringingly awful
Communist weather forcasts - A bit cloudy and between 16 and 26 degrees. When actually freezing rain and fog.
Red wine tasted like sweet sherry and gave me a headache.
Same food for breakfast, lunch and dinner

Longsheng

After a 3 hour bus ride with a brief stop to use some primitive toilets at a tea farm, we arrived in Longsheng. Longsheng is an area full of rice terraces built right into the mountainside. We actually had to pay admission to drive up to the mountain villages because the government controls the tourism in the area. We switched to a government issued bus to drive up the hill. When we arrived at the lower village we were greeted by some Yao women selling postcards. They are famous for their floor-length hair. I think the Yao women from this Chinese minority group have the longest hair in the world. They had it all piled up into identical knots with most of it crammed inside a turban. They offered to take it down if we wanted to pose for photos with them. We declined. I can't imagine washing and combing out that much hair. It must take half of a day.

The scenery in Longsheng was very different to Yangshuo. The flat fields dotted with karst mountains in Yanghshuo had given way to large mountains lined with evergreen trees. The air was colder and a heavy mist blanketed the mountaintops. The Zhuang people who live in the timber villages here had completely transformed the steep hills into thousands of metre-wide rice terraces. It was truly breathtaking.

When we arrived at the top of the mountain we were greeted by local women with large baskets. They offered to carry out things to our accommodation. We agreed since this was their main livelihood. I was certainly glad I did because it was a long, uphill climb to get to the hotel where we were staying. We just kept climbing and climbing, passing identical timber houses built right over the ledges. It was like we had travelled back in time as we passed rice terraces, busy farmers and handmade buildings. The local people do not use stone in the construction of the houses because the local stone is of very poor quality. Instead they use timber because it is plentiful. They don't even use nails. Instead the timber is carefully fit together like the pieces of a puzzle.

We finally arrived at our timber hotel. It was lovely. The interior walls and doors were ornately carved. Our room was cozy like a mountain cabin. The wood gave off a faint smell of menthol (like Vick's Vapo-rub) which was quite refreshing. I guess we wouldn't suffer from a stuffed-up nose there...

It was a very relaxing place. Stephen strummed his guitar while I caught up on my journal. Later, we followed the hotel proprietor further up the mountain for a spectacular view of the '7 stars and a moon' rice terrace formation. We walked past local vendors selling handmade pillow covers, shawls and blankets. We carried on along the stone trail through the rice terraces just taking in the awe-inspiring beauty of the area. I just kept thinking of the mythical city of Shangri-La as I gazed down upon the timber homes from above. We ended our walking tour with a view of the '5 tigers and 9 dragons' rice terrace arrangement. Each vista was more beautiful than the last. The farmers used a simple irrigation system, harnessing the run-off from the mountain streams and inundating the terraces at appropriate times. The farmers worked hard and we saw them hunched over their terraces until late at night.

We returned and sampled the local rice wine over a homemade meal. It was delicious. The rice wine tasted quite a bit like lemonade. They poured it into plastic water bottles and sold it that way. We went to bed early and slept soundly dreaming of timber villages in the sky.

Yangshuo

We are now in China on our Imaginative Traveller 'China Discovery' tour. Our Irish guide, Kirsty, is a lot of fun. She first went to China to teach English and fell in love with the place so now she is back as a guide. Our group is great, too - very international!

Last night we went to see an interactive light show/musical performance by the director of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It was phenomenal!!! I have never seen anything like it. We went to a huge outdoor theater. The show was set on the river itself surrounded by the unusual limestone peaks characteristic of the area. The cast included thousands of people of all ages. They have been performing the show nightly since 2004 and it is always sold out. It told the story of two peasants in love, living across the river from each other. It involved typical activities of the locals like cormorant fishing (they actually use the birds to catch the fish for them - they put collars on them so that they cannot swallow the fish), farming (complete with live water buffalo helping to plow the fields), etc...and the scenes represented various times of day. My favorite was the night scene when hundreds of people with little twinkling lights came out on bamboo boats followed by an enormous glowing moon with a dancer dancing across it as it rocked back and forth over the water. It was amazing! They also had one scene with over a thousand children dancing out onto wooden platforms with reflective costumes. It looked like the costumes had lights sewn into them and they could be turned on and off in time with the choreography. The effect was really incredible - especially considering the sheer number of women and children involved in it. I am going to attempt to download some of the video I took, but I may have to wait for a better internet connection. It is pretty slow right now. The director of the show is also choreographing the Opening Games for the Olympics. Judging by the performance last night it should be pretty amazing. I will certainly be tuning in to that...

We are in Yangshuo at the moment, a really cute little town. It is the first stop for travelers coming from Hong Kong so it is a little bit touristy, but it has been a nice introduction to China. We took an overnight train to get here from the border of Hong Kong. We slept in hard, narrow bunks, six people per cabin and everyone ate Pot Noodles (Top Ramen) for dinner. It was exciting though and both Stephen and I managed to sleep pretty well because we wore our earplugs. Toilets over here typically involve squatting over a hole in the ground which is especially difficult when you are on a moving train - it is probably good for my quadricep muscles though.

We have taken a Chinese lesson so I can now say 'Hello, how are you?', 'I want coffee' and 'I don't want that'. The last phrase is especially useful when you are being chased down the street by over-enthusiastic street vendors. Stephen and I have also had an hour long massage and reflexology on our feet for about the same price we would have paid for a Starbuck's coffee in London. We feel like kings and queens over here...

Yesterday we took a journey down the Li River in a bamboo raft. Today we rented bicycles and cycled through the countryside with views of the rice paddies and unusual limestone formations typical of the Yangshuo area. We finished our bike tour at the 'Half Moon' peak and left our bikes under the watchful eye of our tour leader while we climbed to the arch at the top of the peak followed by at least 10 women attempting to fan us while we walked for money...I took pity on the one who had been fanning me the entire way up and paid her entirely too much for a bottle of water. Oh well - the fanning was nice as it was really hot and humid. It was funny, though because some of them couldn't keep up with us and kept asking us to slow down so we wouldn't be too tired :-)

Finally, we ended the day with a Chinese cooking lesson. I learned to make three dishes. They are pretty labor intensive, but it was really nice to have all the ingredients set up in front of us. We made a spicy chicken dish, a mushroom beef dish and pork dumplings. The food was excellent. First, out cooking teacher took us through the main local market to buy all of the ingredients. It was interesting to see all of the farmers there with their fresh produce. The horrible part was the meat section where they had live animals that were then slaughtered right there. I waited in the vegetable section while most of the group went to check it out. They also had dogs and dog meat. Our cooking teacher said the only thing they don't eat with four legs are tables and chairs. So - yes they eat dog and it is quite expensive! There is a certain breed they use just for food.

Anyway, on a lighter note, our food was delicious. The best part of the cooking was eating the meals we had prepared.

Photos include the stunning karst mountain scenery and Stephen crammed into the middle bunk on the train attempting to play his guitar.

Hong Kong - the 'Big Buddha', 'the Peak' and the 'Jumbo Floating Restaurant'

Well - we had to leave the Intercontinental today. We are now staying in the Hong Kong Hostel with rock hard beds and a view over some Eastern European Communist-looking flats. At least it is very central. We are right in the middle of the shopping district on Hong Kong Island.

Today we traveled in the world's longest cable car up to Ngong Ping plateau to see the 'Big Buddha' and the Po Lin monastery. When we disembarked we entered what I can only describe as the Disney version of a Chinese Village complete with gift shops at the exits of the two main attractions. It was very cute, but full of chain stores like 7-11 and Starbucks. We paid to go to both attractions, 'A Monkey's Tale' and 'Walking with Buddha' because they were part of a special package deal. Much to Stephen's chagrin, 'A Monkey's Tale' turned out to be an animated cartoon with a lesson about greed and a few extra features like tissue pappr leaves fluttering down from the ceiling and some robotic monkeys popping their heads down from above in search of a glowing apple...It was kind of like 'The Bear Country Jamboree' except the monkeys coming down from the ceiling weren't quite up to the Disney standard. I enjoyed it, but it was better suited for children. Stephen's only response was to roll his eyes at me...

Next, we visited 'Walking with Buddha'. This was much better. Again it was animated and told the story of Buddha's life, but it was more serious and more professionally done. In the middle when Buddha left his kingdom we had to walk through a scary forest and were actually rained on with special misters....We entered another theater to see what Buddha went through until he achieved enlightenment. After that, we each received a rice paper leaf with one of his teachings. Stephen did agree that the teachings were good and we both had learned a bit more about Buddhism.

After visiting the attractions and escaping the souvenir shops we began the journey up the steps to see the 'Tian Tan Buddha' up close. It was enormous and the entire project took many years to complete. The monks first had to secure the land and then begin the slow process of construction. We wandered around the statue appreciating the nice mountain scenery and views of the South China Sea. Finally, after a picnic lunch, we headed over to look at the Po Lin monastery. It was beautifully painted hosted several golden Buddha statues. People were burning incense and bowing respectfully before the statues. Some people had actually walked the entire way along a winding stone trail instead of taking the world's longest cable car ride. It must have taken half the day to walk up!

We went back to Hong Kong and fought our way through the crowds of shoppers blinded by the neon lights of the stores. We went over to the Convention Center to watch the nightly light show, 'A Symphony of Lights'. It involves over 40 skyscrapers from both sides of Victoria Harbour. The light display is choreographed to music. It is the largest of its kind in the world. It is like the entire city participating in the Disney electrical light parade....Wow! I will add video when I return to Hong Kong. The computers here is China are too slow.

Here is Stephen's Hong Kong contribution with more on 'The Peak' and the 'Jumbo Floating Restaurant' in Aberdeen Harbour:

Hong Kong
Well it got better, lots of warm sunshine and spectacular light shows in the evening along the water. Also discovered that you could buy dim sum cheaply from the supermarket and eat it in the park for breakfast and watch the joggers run in their special running lanes. All very orderly. Often a bit gloomy during the day but very lively in the evenings under all the fluorescent lights.

More good things
Dim sum for breakfast - much improved over McDonalds
Music and laser display by the skyscrapers over the water every evening at 8pm
Chinese orchestra with lots of interesting instruments
Special cocktail in posh hotel overlooking the water - mainly because I got lost and couldn't find a pub, but it was a treat for the missus.

More bad things
Trying to dry socks with a hairdryer - ahving carried my little bottle of handwash around the world I have realised that this saving a few quid strategy is floored
Got lost again walking down the mountain to get to Aberdeen Harbour (Just as hopeless with Al and Johno in 2004)
Famous jumbo restaurant in Aberdeen Harbour was a rip off. Best bit was the ride home in the bus around the island.

Living the high life in Hong Kong

Stephen used his hotel points from Ford to book us into the Intercontinental Hotel on our first night in Hong Kong. It was so luxurious after the hostels and tents of Australia.

When we arrived they asked if we would be willing to wait 15 minutes and they would upgrade our room. We happily agreed. They even gave us drink vouchers to use in the bar in the meantime. I have a picture of Stephen drinking a late night whiskey in the posh bar. We had fun people watching while we waited for them to set up our room.

When we finally walked into our room, the view took our breath away. We were on the 18th floor overlooking Victoria Harbour and Hong Kong Island in a blaze of neon lights... The bed was the size of a typical hostel room and it even had this electronic consul on each side of it to control all of the gadgets in the room. Stephen accidentally set the alarm for 6am when he was messing around with the consul so we had an unintended early wake-up call...Oh well- the Chinese breakfast buffet was beautifully presented and our friendly server told us which sauces to try with our dim sum. I could get used to this!

Sunset and Bat Caves - Undara

We took a sunset tour this evening.

Our enthusiastic guide took us off-roading in a search for wildlife. We managed to see some kangaroos, wallabies and wallaroos. The best part, however, was the champagne and fruit and cheese platter waiting for us at the top of the hill when we finished our jeep tour. Sunset over the savanna was certainly not disappointing.

When we finished stuffing our faces with cheese and fruit, we turned on our flashlights and headed down to the 'bat caves'. The caves are the home of tiny insect-eating microbats. They also host the incredibly venomous brown snakes that eat the bats. Sometimes, visitors see the brown snakes striking the bats in the cave. Unfortunately for us (well - maybe I should say fortunately) it was the wet season so there weren't as many bats and we didn't see any brown snakes. We had to walk down in the dark so we wouldn't scare the bats away. Our guide gave us a count to three and we all took photos of the darkness, hoping to capture the bats with our flashes. The second time he did it, I managed to capture a great shot of a bat at the side of the camera frame. Everyone was really envious of our camera because you can actually make the bat out even though he is not very centered. It was exciting, but I must admit, I was relieved that we didn't encounter any brown snakes. We attended the ranger talk on all of the venomous animals in the savanna the night before so I wasn't too keen on having one of the deadliest snakes in the world bite me. The ranger did tell us that the survival rate for snake bites in Australia is the best in the world, but I didn't want to try it out.

Lava Tubes - Undara National Park

Undara National Park

This is a volcanic national park in the outback, 300km inland from the coast. The scenery changes dramatically from the palm tree banana plantations to a much drier climate with long golden grass, giant pink grantite and small prickly trees. An African savanah with kangaroos.

Good things
Lots of hopping kangaroos, walaroos and wallabies. All look very similar after a few sherries.
Camped in the park with all the birds, spiders, snakes and hoppy things. Great stars at the 3am bathroom run.
Giant volcanic lava tubes - 100 foot high and over 100km long. You can walk through them as they're all hollow and because they protect the plants from wind and dehydration you get a weird rain forest all around even though it's a really dry area.
Watching the sunset on a cliff overlooking miles of savanah with cheese and champagne
Bush breakfasts, toasting bread in the campfire and eating eggs and beans with early morning kangaroos
Poetry session around the campfire at night
Stopped at the Timotei Girl Waterfall in the Atherton Tablelands - looked nice but the water was a bit chilly for a dip

Bad things
Rented worst car ever. A heap of junk without a radio, air conditioning that worked for two minutes and then smelt of burnt rubber; dashboard held together with gaffa tape; window wipers that missed the screen and tried to jump off the edge of the car; and a dodgy fuel gauage. We had to stop when it rained hard or got too hot. Well it was cheap..
The main road has single lanes for a large part of the way. These were made more fun by having to dive off the road every time you met a road train - 4 giant truck loads loosely connected together and coming at you at a dust hurling 100kph
Found a track off the side of the road to see a view of a huge river bending around the mountain but it started raining on the way back and had to slip and slide on the muddy track back to the car before our second camera blew up in the tropical rain. Had forgotten to take any waterproofs and just wandered along in sandals like virgin tourists. Mistake!
Drive back through the mist and gloom reminded me of hilly slopes of South Wales...in November.

Undara kangaroos

When we arrived in Undara our campsite was surrounded by kangeroos. I was so excited!!! They were the first ones I had seen in the wild. There were two juvenile roos engaged in a boxing match. It was hilarious. They would jump up into each other, fists flying (actually - I should say 'claws'). Ever so often one would take off with a flying leap and kick the other one. It was highly entertaining to watch. I kept trying to film them, but every time I approached they would stop and look at me. I did manage to capture some of it on film, but they are pretty far away. If you watch the video below you will see them boxing in the distance.

Our guide attempted to explain the differences between kangeroos, wallaroos and wallabies. We saw all three of them in Undara. The kangeroos were Eastern Greys and they hung out in groups. They were longer and leaner than the wallaroos. The wallaroos are very independent so you usually only spot one of them or a mother and her young. They are reddish in color and have more of a dog-like expression on their faces. They had dark snouts and more rounded ears. They were also of a thicker, stockier build. The wallabies are the smallest of all. They also seemed to have dark noses. All of them were cute! If you look closely at the pictures above, there is a mother with a joey in her pouch. The joey's legs are dangling out of the pouch. I kept hoping she would shift around in there so I could see her face, but I guess she must have been feeding or comfortable face down...

Here is Stephen's kangeroo poem....

Beneath the trees in golden grass,
Kangaroos were hopping past.
Hoping for a chance to catch
The latest friendly boxing match.

Two contestants push and kick,
Twitch their noses, hop a bit.
Back and forth with heads held high,
Nose to nose, eye to eye.

But soon they're losing interest
Bottoms down, they take a rest
And think of something else to do
Leaves to nibble, grass to chew.

Then legs outstretched in sun they snooze
Side by side these kangaroos
Warming tummies, warming feet
Like two old men draped on a beach.

Joey watches from his pouch
No room for legs, they dangle out
Until it's time to take another
Bouncy trip with bouncy mother.

Atherton Tablelands and our rental heap...

Today we had an early morning wake-up call so that we could go pick up a rental car. This car was to take us on an adventurous road trip out to the Outback. When we arrived at Older Cars, the rental car place recommended by our hostel, we discovered that they had failed to leave us a car key in the lock box, or even a rental car for that matter...As it was Sunday, they were closed so Stephen managed to flag down our hostel shuttle on its return trip from the airport and we went back to try to sort things out. The helpful hostel proprietor managed to locate an emergency number for the rental place and sort things out. They didn't leave a car because they didn't have one of the numbers on the credit card recorded accurately. They could have at least called to let us know!!!!

So, we hopped back into the hostel shuttle and headed to Older Cars once again. One of the mechanics had driven over to give us a key and a car. It was a total heap of a car - a really old Hyundai, with the glove box taped shut, speakers disconnected and dings and scratches all over the body...We had rented from this company once before and had a brilliant car complete with functioning air conditioner and radio. This time, we must have been given their oldest model that could still start. Since it was really cheap and we were really anxious to get out to Undara, we decided to take it anyway. Within five minutes the air con stopped working! At least it was a cooler day so we continued on our journey. The speakers were disconnected as well so we could not listen to the radio. Poor Stephen had to endure four hours of my singing. I started out with some contemporary songs he knew, but I gradually transitioned to the scores from 'The Sound of Music' and 'Annie' eventually breaking into children's songs like 'There's a hole in the bucket' and the 'Banana Boat' song as I was running out of songs in my singing repertoire...

The car somehow made it up the steep, curvy ascent into the Atherton Tablelands. I spotted a sign for Devonshire cream teas so we pulled over to find the teahouse. It was situated on the edge of Lake Barrine, an absolutely stunning little lake. We were still in the wet tropics so the clear, blue waters were surrounded by lush, green trees. The teahouse is 80 years old and pretty enough to host wedding receptions. We ate our homemade scones fresh from the oven as we watched two turtles swimming in the shallows. One of the turtles kept following ducks. It was really amusing to watch! Next, we went for a leisurely stroll around the tropical gardens and over to the enormous twin Kauri trees located on the lake circuit path. It was an unplanned stop, but the place was simply idyllic and best of all - the coffee was refillable!

Our next stop on the car journey was Milla Milla Falls, famous for its appearance in the Timotei commercial. Obviously a beautiful woman with long, blond hair would choose to wash her hair with Timotei in a waterfall....

It was misty so we donned our ponchos before walking down to the falls. The falls were very pretty, but it was a bit too cold to go for a swim. At least the falls in the Tablelands do not have crocodiles...

Next, we continued our journey out to Undara stopping at a cozy cafe in the small town of Ravenhoe. The cafe owner was really friendly and warned Stephen about the crazy road trains (big trucks with at least four sections) that we would encounter on the one-lane road on the way to Undara. Stephen managed to avoid them (there were less on the road as it was Sunday) and we arrived just in time for a swim and huge barbecue at the lodge.

Cairns again...

Two really cool things happened last night:

First, Stephen was reading the local paper in a cafe and noticed that Keith McMillan was giving a talk before the launch of a photography exhibit at the Cairns Gallery. Keith McMillan was a former dancer for the Royal Ballet in England and then became a photographer, snapping photos of many of the 60's icons in Britain. His talk was really entertaining and he told several amusing anecdotes about sessions with John Lennon and Yoko Ono and Roy Orbison. He was really entertaining and down to earth. Stephen asked some questions and we chatted with him briefly after the talk. He had photos of several of the principal ballet dancers of the day, the cast from Monty Python, Margaret Thatcher, John and Yoko, Man Ray (the artist) and David Hockney.

We really enjoyed ourselves! We were afraid they wouldn't let us in because everyone was dressed for the champagne reception and we were wearing our 'zip off' hiking trousers and backpacking gear. They did make us check our small backpacks in at reception, but they let us in!

The second interesting activity involved throwing rocks into the marina. Apparently there is a really unusual algae in the water at the moment. So when the rocks hit the water surface it lights up into a really vibrant turquoise blue color, almost as it is has been illuminated by spotlights! I guess the color is due to bioluminescence in the water. It was amazing to watch. We must have spent a good 30 minutes just throwing stones into the water and watching the colorful results. The newspaper articles on the subject attempted to reassure the locals that it is indeed a natural phenomenon and not the result of toxic waste dumped into the water....let's just hope they are right...

Great Barrier Reef Diving

Great Barrier Reef Diving Trip

Rough seas getting out of the harbour which meant you had to chase your breakfast around the table and then sit in the middle of the boat trying to be nice to your new 'buddies' without throwing up on them. Tried to take a reference guide for all the fish but as soon as you looked to see what they were they had scapered under a rock or something. The reef is like a huge aquarium. Millions of different fish - you just get mesmerized and eventually a bit further away from the boat than you should.

Good things
Hanging under the boat at night with torches and watching 2 reef sharks circling in the gloom. Realised I had stopped breathing for 60 seconds. Not sure how yummy I looked to them but I tried to make myself look a little slimmer campared to the others just in case. Night diving is like exploring another planet like in the films. Always make sure you're not at the back getting eaten by aliens. The scariest thing was getting out of the water and seeing the sharks at the surface aggresively chase the fish out of the water under the floodlights of the boat!
Blood orange moon rising at dusk over the ocean
Favourite fishy things - giant purple sea star that looked like huge draught excluder and a giant flowery cod - 70s paisly patterned fish about 6 feet long and stupid looking.
Took Becky on her first non guided dive and realised that she can't nag under water. She has to pull my flippers to get my attention. Will have to put this into practice on dry land.
Glorious sunrises

Bad things
Getting up at 5.30am to see glorious sunrises before struggling into cold wet suits and jumping in with loads of heavy stuff on your back.

Freezing rain downpour while practising using a compass on the rear deck of the boat. Had to navigate a square which is fairly easy when you're on a boat with only 10 square feet to work in. Harder, I found out when you're in the sea at night and you've got a current trying to take you to Fiji.
Having to get rescued by the dingy on the first dive having ended up miles away from the boat. Were dragged back to the boat on the 'tow of shame'. Fell off the rope twice
Jumping into the water without my breathing respirator in place.
Getting stuck under the boat due to too much buoyancy. Looked a bit stupid flapping against the hull. I thought the crew were going to start throwing fish. Need to eat more pies.
Still rubbish at clearing my mask and had to do half a dive with a facefull of sea water.
No matter what you see someone always sees something bigger, better or more scary.
We were told that you can't get lost diving on the reef. It's true, I always find the boat. It's just that the boat is a little further away than I expect when I appear above the surface, much to the dismay of my instructors. Anyway, am now advanced diver. Learn from your mistakes as they say...

Underwater photos courtesy of Ivy and Andy from our trip...

Trip to Cape Tribulation

Daintree Rainforest
Oldest rainforest on earth next to perfect white beaches surrounded by deadly ocean that you can't swim in. Should stuff a few plastic dinosaurs between the mangroves to complete the Jurasic Park theme.

Good things
Rented from Older Cars (on last legs). Cheap and came with a spoiler.
Luxury breakfast at Palm something or other, overlooking the beach
Coast road winded around mountains next to palm fringed beaches.
Didn't have to sit under a drippy AC unit or share a bus with a sweaty Australian driver.
Stopped twice at the Ice cream factory with a tropical garden for Becky to chase butterflies
Saw a couple of large monitor lizards on our mangrove walks. Becky assumed she would get better photos of the lizard's front by noisily stalking it from behind and watching its rear wiggle away along the path.
Stumbled across huge waterfalls at Kuranda
Nearly put room keys in the rental car return box.

Stayed in a resort in the jungle by the beach and got upgraded to en suite and coffee making facilities

Bad things
No water at the resort. No coffee. No en suite...
Discovery centre was utter rubbish. Can see better stuff wandering around the forest on your own. Saw 1 butterfly and that had a pin in it. It also closed well before dusk so all the interesting birds and animals are asleep or are hidden. Need to have a word with our enthusiastic tourist information women
Stopped at KFC because everything else was closed on our 100 mile drive. Quality experience predictably appalling but marginally better than the Discovery Centre and 50 dollars cheaper.

Cairns

Cairns - Sweaty Cleethorpes

Good things
Artificial swimming lagoon overlooking the mudflats
Lots of happy hour drinks and dinners
Close to oldest rainforest on earth and reef which Cleethorpes is not..

Bad things
Chewed huge chili that blew my head off. Looked like a large carrot to me. They gave seven of these huge vegetables, what are you supposed to do with them? Speechless for 10 minutes and had to gargle water in the men's room until my eyes, ears and nose stopped running and I returned to a lesser shade of maroon..
Cockroach and spider killing sprees to protect cringing wife. She had to live with them for a year and has now developed a phobia. That's nothing. I lived in Hackney for 4 years and can handle myself with a raised flipflop. Room now smells of toxic insect repellent but no scuttling noises....

(note from 'the cringing wife' - due to my cockroach phobia we have now been upgraded into our own private townhome across the street from the hostel w/ large bathroom, kitchen, living room and balcony for the same price as the cockroach infested double... because they like us....

Spectacular Darwin Sunsets

Okay! Okay! I admit it... I did get carried away with the sunset photos, but the sunsets were so incredible in Darwin. The sky is slightly hazy over the harbour and with the storm clouds it makes for really spectacular sunsets.

Litchfield National Park

We got to sleep in until 6am today! Hooray - that extra half an hour really makes a difference.

My journey to the bathroom last night was interesting. As I approached the toilet block with our weak, overpriced flashlight I suddenly noticed hundreds of wallabies feasting on the plants around the campsite. I have attached a photo of one of them that I caught in the daylight, but seeing hundreds of them in the middle of the night was really incredible.

I have also included photos of the three waterfalls we visited in Litchfield: Florence Falls, Wangi Falls and my favourite - Tolmer Falls (the one with the unusual rock formations and the arch up over the top). We were not allowed to swim in Florence Falls because of rough waters after the storm. Wangi Falls was off limits due to the presence of hungry crocodiles and Tolmer is permanently closed to swimmers to protect two rare bat species that inhabit the caves below (the orange horseshoe bat and the ghost bat, only found in the national parks of the Northern Territory). The olive python also lives around Tolmer and hunts the bats.

Anyway, after our waterfall visits our guide took us to a smaller set of waterfalls so we could have a swim. The current was very strong. As soon as we entered the water we were swept off our feet. It was a crazy place to swim. Soon we were swimming right up to the falls and then sliding off the rocks and letting the current carry us to the edge of the pool. It was very exciting!

Cathedral Termite Mounds

As we finished Day 2 and headed back toward the Kakadu park entrance, we stopped to look at an enormous cathedral termite mound. The termite community is organized much like a bee hive. There is one queen that lays all of the eggs and several worker termites. The termites that construct cathedral mounds feed on the tall grass of Kakadu. They are blind so they actually travel underground to eat the grass. The termite mound is constructed of termite saliva and excrement (or 'spit and shit' as our guide so eloquently put it). This concoction resembles concrete and it is incredibly strong. Other animals seek shelter in these large termite mounds during bushfires. The workers must constantly repair the walls to keep out the ants, their number one predator. If something happens to the queen and there is not another queen to replace her, the colony will die out. See photos of the cathedral termite mound, our tour group companions and Rob, our fearless leader...

Gunlom (Waterfall Creek)

Rob, our guide, woke us up at 5:30am on the second day of our tour so that we could finish our bushwalk before it got too hot. We drove to Gunlom and then hiked to a smallish waterfall with a refreshing swimming hole beneath it. It was already hot and muggy by 8:30am so we were thankful for the opportunity to cool off. I can understand why locals might be tempted to swim in areas the may have crocodiles because it is so bloody hot and humid!

However, Rob assured us that this area was perfectly safe for swimming. They still have to post the crocodile warning sign just in case, but the signs say strictly 'Do not enter the water' if the area is not safe.

Stephen and I tried to swim toward the waterfall, but the current was so strong it pushed you right back. Rob and Daniel climbed up some of the rocks and leapt off. The rest of us decided that this was a bit mad...It looked too easy to slip.

Nourlangie Area and Aboriginal Rock Painting

After the 'jumping croc' cruise, we drove to the Nourlangie Area in Kakadu. From there, you can see the Arnehem Land escarpment, a long stretch of raised sandstone that goes on for miles. We did the 2km loop around Nourlangie. Our timing was pretty good as we just avoided a huge thunderstorm. Fortunately, it stopped just as our guide finished telling us a little bit about the area.

First, we stopped at the Anbangbang rock shelter, used by the Aboriginal people for 20,ooo years as a refuge during the wet season. They also used the rock as a canvas upon which to practice rock painting. A Czech scientist determined that Aboriginal people painted right over the top of earlier works. Aboriginal rock painting is divided into three distinct periods - the Pre-estuarine period (including the earliest paintings and those up to 6,000 years ago), the Estuarine period (6,000 to 2,000 years ago) when rising sea levels brought the coast to its present level and artists began to use the paintings for teaching, giving figures of animals an X-ray quality -showing the parts of the animals that were good to eat, etc. and the Freshwater period (2,000 years ago to the present) when fresh water was more readily available so the Aboriginal people had more time to devote to their art. The rock paintings function as archives for the Aboriginal people. They used natural water-soluable ochres to achieve the warm colours of their paintings.

We continued along the loop walk and stopped at the Angangbang Gallery, featuring Dreaming characters painted in the 60's by a famous Aboriginal artist. These paintings were meant to renew interest in traditional Aboriginal ways. The artist depicted the story of a man who had an incestuous relationship (not necessarily by our definition, but with someone with one of the same kin names). The woman killed herself and he fled the community. As he was camping along the river's edge and cooking, he caught fire. Covered in blisters, he leapt into the water. As a punishment, the Aboriginals say he became a crocodile, the blisters becoming the bumps on the crocodile's hide.

Finally, we headed up to the Gunwarddehwarde lookout for spectacular views over the Arnehem Land escarpment.

Jumping Crocs - Adelaide River

We boarded a double-decker river cruiser for the Jumping Crocs cruise. We went down to the bottom deck for better views of the crocs. The windows had glass panes so that the crocodiles wouldn't accidentally snap off a limb of a camera-waving tourist. Two guides stood on either side of the upper deck dangling raw meat over the side of the boat. Normally you cannot see the crocodiles during the wet season because they remain hidden under the water to keep cool. However, the crocodiles know the sound of the croc jumping cruiser and they associate it with food. Within minutes we spotted our first crocodile making his way over to the boat by swishing his long tail. He came right to the side of the cruiser and made a few passes underneath the raw meat. Finally, he readied himself by plunging his tail deep into the water. Within seconds he came flying out of the water snapping his great jaws over the meat. It was really exciting.

Overall, we got to see 5 or 6 crocociles jump for the raw meat. Their sizes ranged from 3 meters to well over 4 meters. The last croc that came over to the boat was the biggest. He looked like he had just swallowed a cow. He didn't move very quickly either. When the guide pulled the meat out of his reach he looked angry and started heading directly over to the side of the boat with the one open window. The guide immediately tried to distract him by tapping the meat on the surface of the water. He turned around and headed for the meat again, much to the relief of the passengers sitting on that side of the boat. He is the one in the photo with all of his teeth showing. Since they have stopped hunting crocodiles, these reptiles are increasing in size. They are also more aggressive as they have to compete for food. It is perfectly normal to find crocs missing limbs. They sometimes resort to cannabalism and often attack each other in defense of their territory. The larger 'salties' are more of a threat to humans. However, if you follow the instructions on the signs and stay away from the water in the national parks they are not a problem. Usually the people attacked are drunk locals or people swimming in areas known to contain the saltwater crocodiles. The freshwater crocodiles are much smaller and do not pose a threat to humans unless someone accidentally trods upon them...

Wetlands of Kakadu National Park

Stephen and I just returned from a 3-day tour of Kakadu and Litchfield National Park.

It was a really good way to explore these areas. Kakadu alone is the size of Wales so that makes for a huge area to explore. We got off to a bit of a rough start. The piercing sound of our Argentinian alarm clock woke us up just before 5am. We arrived at the tour office on time with all of our things. There was supposed to be a weight limit of 15kg, but our backpacks were well under the weight limit and we didn't want to pay the hostel fees to store our stuff. As a huge, full jeep safari vehicle rode up the driver informed us that and the Japanese girl waiting with us that he couldn't fit all of our luggage in the jeep. We were miffed because had we known there was a size limit we could have easily packed a few things in a small bag the night before. As it was the wet season, there was no guarantee our things would stay dry if we tied them on the top of the jeep. After our camera experience I didn't want to chance this. So, we repacked and left our luggage in the tour office. My brain does not usually engage early in the morning until I have been awake for at least an hour and have had a cup of coffee. Needless to say, I managed to forget shower gel and toothpaste. At least Stephen remembered these important articles. Unfortunately, I also forgot the torch (flashlight)! Stephen already managed to lose his so we were forced to by a large, overpriced torch with weak batteries at the first campsite. This purchase just about killed Stephen, but it was essential. The campsite was pitch black and we had no lights in our tents. I didn't want to accidentally step on a venomous snake on my way to the bathroom or sit on a redback spider in the toilet...

Anyway, after the rocky start things were fine. We assumed the last two seats in the jeep safari vehicle and we were off! I was seated next to Daniel, a friendly 19-year old from London who was still drunk from the night before and looked like he hadn't washed his long hair for a few days. At least he was sociable. Soon we were driving through the wetlands on our way to the crocodile jumping cruise along the Adelaide River. The wetlands are home to many species of waterbirds including the magpie goose, green pygamy goose, Burekin duck, heron, egret, cormornat, wedge-tailed eagle, whistling kite and black kite. We saw several of them out the windows of the jeep. There was one enormous waterbird that will actually challenge a crocodile for a kill. They have really hard beaks that can actually pierce a crocodile's skull and brain. If one of these birds approach a crocodile, the croc will actually retreat first.

When we arrived at the jumping croc site they had two pythons on display that they would allow the tourists to hold. I took the olive python, Ollie, much to the surprise of many of our fellow travelers. I had a science teacher in elementary school who always brought her own snakes into class so I don't mind holding them. Ollie was a really beautiful olive colour. We found out later Olive Pythons are local snakes that hunt the bats in the caves of the national parks.

Darwin - Crocodylus Park

Today we went to Crocodylus Park. It is a crocodile research and educational center.

We hopped on Bus 5 to get there. It dropped us off 15 minutes away and it wasn't obvious how to get to the park entrance. We ended up walking across a field and getting attacked by an angry, swooping white bird. I have never seen a bird behave so aggressively. We figured she must have had a nest nearby she was trying to protect. She kept returning for more diving and fly-by action. We had to duck each time she passed overhead. After crossing a busy highway, we finally found the entrance to the park. It is obviously not designed for those without cars. Apparently, there are a few buses that take you to the entrance, but they only go 3x a day. Oh well - the park was definitely worth it in the end.

We wandered around the museum while we waited for our tour to start. We had a Crocodile Dundee-style guide, complete with the hat and everything. We started at the female croc lagoon. He attached pieces of raw chicken to a line that dangled over the lagoon so that we could see the crocs jump for the meat. He assured us that this is a natural crocodile behaviour.

Next, we moved to the breeding area. As we looked down into the first pool, we saw an enormous male croc looking up at us. He knew it was feeding time. They capture problem crocs from the Northern Territory (and the big ones hanging about in Darwin harbour) and bring them to this research center for the breeding program. He hung a fishing line out to feed the huge breeding males and slightly smaller females. He even let Stephen have a go at feeding them. The sound their jaw makes as it snaps shut is really scary. The pressure of a crocs jaws on its prey is equivalent to a huge winnebago flying through the air and landing on you (our guides explanation was something like that...).

They have small crocs that are bred and allowed to live in the park until they are four years old and then they sell the skins to French crocodile purse makers. This gives local landowners the incentive to allow crocodiles to live on their property and breed (otherwise they would probably be killed). They are paid for the croc eggs that the park collects from their land.

At the end of the informative tour, the guide let us each hold a baby croc. Their jaws were taped shut and they were chosen because they were docile. Croc skin feels a lot like snake skin. They were so calm in our hands. I certainly wouldn't fancy trying to catch a bigger one. Especially after we watched them all when they were fed chicken heads after the tour. I will download some video when I have a better connection. It was really scary to watch them go after the meat. We also saw kangaroos, big cats, iguanas and monkeys, but the crocodile tour was the highlight of the day. It was so incredible to watch the huge breeding crocs eat.

They have one really old famous croc called Eric. He was captured after he was spotted stalking fishermen and bumping fishing boats. They think he may have been responsible for one croc fatality. Now he is so old he has lost his teeth (they grow back until the crocs are 60 years old) so he is not so threatening anymore, but he is still enormous!

Brisbane

Brisbane
Sydney/London without fancy opera house, harbour bridge or red buses..Nice but dull. Maybe more like Basingstoke...

Good things
Lots of open air swimming pools in a tropical park along the south bank of the river
Huge bats in the botanical gardens flapping around at dusk when we were trying to find our way out of the park.

Bad things
Gust of wind removed my beloved hat and dropped it 100 ft into the river below the bridge. Seemed to float down in slow motion.

Tambourine Mountain

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Stephen and I stayed with Renae, a teacher I used to work with at Riverside Primary, and her husband, Jason, in Pacific Pine, a really lovely suburb of Surfers Paradise. They have a nice, new home. It seemed so luxurious after all of the hostels. We had our own room, bathroom and fresh towels. We barbecued Friday night and they fed us homemade lasagne for dinner on Saturday and pancakes for breakfast on Sunday. It was so nice to have some home-cooked food!

On Saturday they drove us up to Tambourine Mountain. It has amazing views out over the Gold Coast. We took a walk through a tropical rainforest to a waterfall and managed to spot a mullet skink, the largest of the skinks, and a brightly-coloured parrot (see photos).

After that, we tasted some wine at the local winery and went to a cafe specializing in pies. Stephen was very happy with that lunch option. They even served mushy peas. (For the American blog readers - 'pies' refer to savory variety like shepherd's pie or steak and kidney pie, not your pumpkin or pecan).

We wandered around the shops lining the streets of this Tambourine Mountain village. It reminded me a little bit of Julian. There was an amazing fairy shop where the woman had created an entire enchanted forest with trees that light up, mushrooms, fairies, etc. It was a little girl's dream store....and we bought fudge. Yum! Yum!

Surfer's Paradise

Surfer's Paradise is just the greatest name for a city ever!

The coastline looks a little bit like Waikiki Beach with all of its hotels and highrises. The beach is really nice, though and there are lots of good shops here. We are staying a little bit out of town, but we were really happy to find a hostel with a double room after staying in a dorm in Byron Bay for 5 days. For the most part it was fine, but we did have two young Germans in our room that liked to switch on the lights at 3 in the morning when they came back from a night out. Stephen was on the verge of removing the light bulb. At least we have our own room here so we can go to bed at middle-age hours without fear of being woken up at all hours of the night!

Bats

One of our favourite things here in Australia is watching the bats take off from the trees each evening. Here is Stephen's attempt at catching a group of bats in flight. The video does not quite do the experience justice, but we have tried to share it nonetheless. The shape of their wings really is just the way they are depicted in haunted house drawings for Halloween. They are so cool! We love the bats!

Byron Bay continued...

Well - the weather has been much better the last two days.
We have been taking advantage of the various offerings of the Arts Factory Lodge (the alternative hippy hostel we are staying in).
They have a dance studio and they offer yoga classes there each morning. We went yesterday and today. The Chinese instructor is very knowledgeable and she has even managed to help Stephen get into various yoga positions by giving him soft, foamy bricks and cushions to support his inflexible body parts. Hopefully, it will help sort out his stiff hip.

Today, we rented a surfboard and played around in the waves for a few hours. The waves are small and fairly gentle - perfect for our limited surfing abilities. You might be able to just make us out in the two surfing photos above. We are each standing up in a very small wave that has just about reached the shore...Tomorrow, we are signed up to take a massage course at the hostel. We even get certificates when we complete the course! So- if we run out of money perhaps we can fall back on our massage training...

Byron Bay

Australia has had a drought for nearly 5 years but not here in Byron Bay. No, a month of wet Cornish weather has appeared to greet us so it's high speed scampering between beach, coffee shop and overpriced shopping malls ..

Here are some photos of our hostel, the Arts Factory Lodge. It is a huge place, almost like a small village. There are hammocks everywhere and they even have a huge camping area complete with tents and teepees. There is a large pond crawling with lizards (as you can see by my photos), a swimming pool, a volleyball court/didgereedoo pit and best of all - there is even a resident turkey.

Coffs Harbour

We decided to stop in Coffs Harbour to break up the journey to Byron Bay. No one had anything particularly nice to say about it, but it was about halfway so we decided to see it for ourselves. The town itself is very ordinary (but it did have a camera shop which was crucial after our camera in the rain disaster), but the harbour area and beaches were nice. Our hostel, Aussitel Backpacker's, was also very good. They picked us up from the bus station and drove us to the scenic lookout. The hostel manager was a friendly Canadian and he pointed out all of the beaches and the Muttonbird Island Reserve with views over the harbour and all of the beaches. That night the hostel was having a barbecue that Stephen and I happily signed up for.

We decided to walk into town to inquire about cameras first. As we began to walk back to the hostel from town, we noticed the sky darken perceptibly. Having learnt our lesson in Newcastle, we immediately donned our South American rain ponchos. We barely made it back to the hostel before the rain started. Fortunately, there was a large covered patio at the hostel so they were able to go ahead with the barbecue.

The next day, we purchased a replacement camera and charged it at the local cafe. We then went for a swim at the surfing beach and climbed to the top of the Muttonbird Island Reserve. It had great views of the Solitary Islands (a popular diving spot in the area). It is a unique area because it is where the tropical currents from the North meet the more temperate currents of the Tasman Sea. Four species of sea turtles, the endangered nurse sharks and cuttlefish all thrive in the waters around Coffs Harbour. Stephen and I were lucky enough to see a sea turtle swimming along right next to the rocks below us. We didn't even have to go diving to see him. He must have been searching for barnacles or other shellfish to eat. It was very exciting! I didn't quite manage to get the new camera out in time as it was in a plastic bag in its new fancy, hard-backed case.

Stephen's blurb...

To break up the journey to Byron Bay we stopped at Coffs Harbour for a couple of nights. Not much to say really. It has a harbour, great diving - they all do; a large banana statue that they think is funny and a wildlife island with the odd bird on it although we did see a turtle in the sea. The scenery around is nice though - lots of tree covered hills, palm trees, banana plantations etc The next place had a giant prawn on the roof - hilarious...

Coffs Harbour
Good things
Haircut man from Croydon filled me in on the latest Premiership action and that Spurs had actually won something but that Leyton Orient hadn't.
Replaced dead camera for one similar to the old one, so that Becky can work it without having to read a manual


Bad things
Paid $360 instead of a number of reasonable $150 options for 7 million pixels and huge battery sucking screen but with knobs in the same position as the last one. So that's alright then.

Newcastle and the Hunter Valley

From Sydney we took the Greyhound 2 1/2 hours up the coast to Newcastle. Stephen's friend and former Ford colleague, Gordon, and his wife Tracey were kind enough to put us up for a few days. They were great hosts and we had a lot of fun with them. They fed us, gave us bicycles and cars to use and Gordon even stayed up late to play the guitar with Stephen.

We used Newcastle as a base to explore the Hunter Valley, birthplace of the Australian Shiraz. Stephen drove Gordon's car out to wine country. We visited three of the most scenic wineries. We ate a picnic lunch in the New England style gardens of the Pepper Tree winery. Then we took photos of the panoramic views from Aubry Wilkinson and finally we enjoyed cream teas a sunny views of growing grapes at the Drayton winery. They had a nice museum about the Drayton family. It was glorious and sunny. We finished the day with a swim in the sea back at Newcastle.

The next day, we borrowed the bikes and took a nice bike ride along a disused railway track. It was a really nice trail. We decided to turn around when we noticed the sky becoming black. Unfortunately, our timing was not quite right and we got stuck in the middle of a torrential rainstorm. We took shelter under a tree hoping it would pass quickly, but the rain was relentless. By now, we were thoroughly drenched so we decided we had nothing to lose by cycling home. Besides, we were getting attacked by pesky mosquitoes seeking shelter under the very same tree. We made it back 20 minutes later, took warm showers and set about hanging everything out to dry. Unfortunately, our much-beloved camera did not survive the deluge of water so well. It was in a case in my bag, but unfortunately, the material was not thick enough or waterproof enough to withstand an hour of heavy rainfall. Sadly, we have had to purchase a new camera after the man at the shop pronounced it completely dead. We are still hoping to possibly get it repaired in Hong Kong, but in the meantime we have a new Cannon to replace it. Hopefully, the pictures will be just as nice. Lessons learned: 1. Always bring our South American ponchos with us wherever we go and, 2. Always keep the camera in a good case inside a plastic bag.

And Stephen says...
Newcastle - Their Newcastle football team that actually won something this year and without Kevin Keegan.
We were collected from the bus station in Gordon and Tracy's brand new super mum car and taken home for showers, tea and sandwiches. I worked near Gordon for around 12 months at Ford which entitles me to turn up at his house in Australia every 4 or 5 years, kick the kids out of their bedroom, borrow their car, borrow their bikes, abuse the internet and telephone; get all our washing done and drink a month worth of booze in 3 evenings. We also managed to relive a few glorious guitar workshop numbers until the small hours but the singing doesn't get any better even if we know all the chords.

Hunter Valley Nice hills with wineries but needs a casino for something else to do
Drove inland to find wineries and pretty landscape with Gordon's car and mobile phone and the Mrs on naviagtion which always adds to the entertainment. These wine making people always choose nice places to set up their vines. Well you might as well if it's going to be your life's work. Found the best one by accident and stopped when proffered Devonshire Cream Teas. The wineries here give you free tastes of wine but you feel compelled to guzzle a few glasses, buy a bottle and then disappear quickly. At the least one we could slurp a few of their favourites and then order a cup of tea and sit down and have time to look at the nice scenery. Still like wine, good.

Good things
Abusing Gordon and Tracy's hospitality
Watching enourmous bats leave in formation and flying over the garden during dinner
Walking around a free wildlife park with kangaroos, koalas and lots of parrots
Playing the Proclaimers until 1am - the lyrics are really funny
Doing stupid Bob Dylan vaccum cleaner accents to any Dylan song
No need for an alarm click with 3 children under 7 years old

Bad things
Getting stuck in huge rainstorm on a bike ride into the countryside. Wetter than an otter's pocket. Tried to shelter under some trees but the leaves just funneled more water over us and the mozzies nibbled our legs. Shoes were full of water and so was our pet camera that died an early and upsetting death. Why couldn't it stop working in Hong Kong? Could have repaired it cheaply or got something at preshipped to the rest of the world prices. No more photos on the blog!

The Two Queens

Sunday, the day we decided to take the ferry over to Taronga Zoo, turned out to be a historic day for Sydney. It was the first time since World War II that two 'Queens' were in the harbor. The aforementioned 'Queens' were two of the famous Cunard oceanliners. The Queen Victoria was moored in Circular Quay. She was part of the way through her maiden voyage around the world. As you can see from the photos, she is absolutely enormous. People turned out and lined the entire perimeter of the harbor to see her set off and change positions with the QE2 (Queen Elizabeth 2). It is the last time the Queen Elizabeth II will grace Sydney Harbour with her presence. She is about to retire from duty and become a floating hotel in Dubai.

We just happened to be in the ferry returning from the zoo before this momentous occasion. There were hundreds of boats in the harbour to watch the 'Queens' take off. There must have been at least 12 helicopters circling in the air and the harbour patrol boats were keeping people from crossing. We thought we were going to be stuck in the middle of the harbour, but the harbour patrol finally allowed us to cross. We were the last boat in the harbour before the Queen Victoria pulled out. We were able to see the smoke arising from the smoke stacks as we passed by. We joined a couple of Rob Ferrone's friends (Tina and Amanda) for a drink at the Opera House bar. We could see everything happening in Circular Quay from there. We watched the Queen Victoria disappear behind the opera house with all her rich patrons waving from the decks. Then, we watched as the QE2 was tugged into her place. The atmosphere was incredible. There were people everywhere. We just happened to be there in the right place at the right time.

Taronga Zoo

The Blue Mountains

On Saturday, Andy drove us to Katoomba for some spectacular views from Echo Point. We got a map of a nice day walk from the information center and ordered coffees to drink from the balcony overlooking the 'Three Sisters' and 'Jamison Valley'. Unfortunately, service was very slow so we had to quickly down our coffees in order to make it back to the expensive parking lot before our pass expired.

We were, however, able to park for free at Scenic World so we started our walk form there. We walked along the cliff top until we arrived at Echo Point once again. Then we began the descent into the valley. We got to sit just below 'The Three Sisters'. The story goes like this....

Once upon a time there was a sorcerer. He turned the three sisters to stone to protect them from the unwanted advances of three young men. Unfortunately for the sisters he died before he could turn them back into humans again....

We took the Giant Steps down to the valley. It was quite steep. It reminded me a little bit of Day 3 of the Inca Trail when we had to go down the stone steps for hours. This was similar, but we were able to get to the bottom more quickly. When we reached the bottom we realized that we only had 45 minutes to get to the train station in order to catch the last train up to the top again. We had to pick up the pace a little bit. We made it in the end! The train ride was the most exciting part of all. It was originally designed to transport coal up the mountains. When you get into the car you are practically lying down flat on your back. As the train begins to climb you are virtually standing upright. There was a cage over the top to keep the passengers from falling out it was so steep. I was longing for a seatbelt and clutching the cage desperately the entire way up it was so steep! We went through a really dark tunnel and I had the strange sensation of falling instead of climbing. I breathed a sigh of relief as pulled into the station at the top. It was the most exciting train trip I have ever been on ..... and it was probably the highlight of the day!

Blue Mountains - Grand canyon with trees

Good things
Views of trees, waterfalls and Japanese families
Nice vertical train ride takes you back up to the top

Bad things
Families getting in my way on the footpaths.
Drive out from Sydney was like the A40 out of London
Parking 4 dollars an hour. Found sneaky alternative
--

Bondi Beach

Friday, Stephen and I took the bus over to the famous Bondi Beach. We actually took the bus to Bronte Beach first because Stephen figured it was within walking distance to Bondi. Bronte Beach was located in a really pretty cove-like setting. Unfortunately, the swimming beach was closed due to dangerous conditions. We walked along the cliffs toward Bondi and stopped at Tamarama Beach for some coffee and a sandwich while watching some really incredible surfers catching some huge waves. We carried on around Mackenzies Point and saw the really nice swimming pool that overlooks Bondi. What a great palce to do laps!

Stephen and I locked up our things and decided to rent a boogie board. We spent the entire afternoon in the water diving under enormous waves and hugging the sand on the bottom so that we wouldn't get churned up and thrown back to shore. It was a pretty rough day in the water. Stephen said he had never been in such rough conditions and I haven't been in them very much. We still enjoyed ourselves as we tried to imitate the really good body surfers catching waves around us. They looked as though they were up on boards, but in reality they were just using their arms to keep their heads out of the water. We managed to catch a few good waves. They were strong enough to pick us up even if we weren't doing things entirely correctly. It was a lot of fun! I can only imagine how busy Bondi is on the weekend because it was incredibly busy during the week.

That night we met Andy and a girl Stephen used to study with in Oxford. We had a nice meal on the harbor.

Bondi beach Sydney - Bournemouth again
Good things
Surfed huge waves at Bondi beach and managed to miss the dopey swimmers because the lifeguards pen you in to a 10m section. Not enough for the most famous beach in Australia.

Bad things
Needs 3 buses to get there

Fruit Bats at the Sydney Botanical Gardens

Andy suggested that we try to visit the Botanical Gardens just before dusk so that we could see all the Fruit Bats hanging from the trees there. As we were wandering around we spotted several different kinds of birds - colorful lorakeets, huge white cockatus and a few curlews. We saw a group of tourists clustered beneath a tree in the distance. As we got closer we realized that the tree was covered in bats. They were all sleeping upside down. We watched them for a while and soon noticed that all of the trees in the area were hosting sleeping bats. We stayed hoping that we could see them all wake up and take off into the night. Unfortunately, we had tickets to see La Boheme at the Sydney Opera House so we couldn't wait very long. We managed to see a few

wake up, change positions and squabble with each other. We saw one or two take flight. It was fascinating to see so many large bats. They seemed much bigger than the few I have seen in California. Their faces were actually kind of cute. They almost looked like winged foxes.

Afterward, we dashed over to the Opera House to meet Andy for an evening performance of La Boheme. It was excellent! We had the nosebleed seats with obstructions, but we felt fortunate just to be able to attend. It was a modern day adaptation set in some students digs. The costumes were modern as well. One of the Bohemians had dread locks and another had an earring, black leather jacket and tatoos. The singing was fantastic and the acoustics were incredible. When the scene took place in the far left-hand side of the stage I couldn't see what was happening, but fortunately most of the action occurred in the middle of the stage and part of the stage even lifted up so that everyone could see when they were on the second floor of the apartment complex or they were changing scenery below. We all really enjoyed it - even Stephen :-)

Manly Beach

Today we took the ferry to Manly Beach. I think Sydney Harbor is the nicest harbor I have ever seen. The ferry allows you to really appreciate the size of it!

We arrived at Manly Cove and I saw my first shark net. I think it is primarily there to protect swimmers from jellyfish (especially the deadly Box Jellyfish we read about at the aquarium). The picture of the beach shows a bit of the shark net. It is held up by wooden pylons.

Stephen and I crossed over to the beach side (it is a bit like Mission Bay and Mission Beach in that there is a narrow isthmus separating the harbor from the ocean). We went for a swim and then attempted to do a bit of bodysurfing. The sand was really soft and fine. The shallow water was turquoise and it was not as cold as the ocean in California. We could have stayed in all day, but we had to keep checking to make sure our backpack was still on the beach. Later, as we were drying off on the sand, the lifeguard announced that several Blue Bottle jellyfish were drifting in towards the shore. These are not deadly like the Box Jellyfish, but I think their stings can be fairly painful. We opted not to go back into the water. I took a photo of one that had washed up onto the shore.

Since we couldn't go back in the ocean, we decided to follow the Manly Scenic Trail that starts on the harborside. It was very scenic with lots of rocky coves and clear water. There were also massive spiders in webs in the trees along one particular part of the walkway. I have never seen spiders so big. We saw one wrapping up a huge butterfly. If you lived in one of the beautiful homes along the harbor you would have to knock down spider webs all the time - or at least be careful not to walk into them.

We went for a swim in one of the rocky coves on the way back. Too bad we didn't have our snorkelling gear with us!

It was a great day out. We caught the end of a sailboat race on the ferry ride back....

Maritime Museum and Sydney Harbor

Well - we are fortunate enough to be staying within walking distance of Sydney Harbor.

We started off at the free National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbor on our first morning in Sydney. It is an excellent museum. We took the general tour. Our tour guide was really interesting because it turns out he came to Austrailia when he was 6 years old as an orphan. They sent several orphans to Australia from England during WWII. The Suez Canal was blocked so they had to take a ship to Canada and then a train all the way across the country to Vancouver. The ship they were supposed to take from there had been bombed in the war so they had to wait in Vancouver for a month before boarding a different ship. They stopped in Hawaii, but because they had 20 children listed on one passport they weren't allowed to leave the ship until the authorities got in touch with Washington. By then, it was too late so they sailed on to Fiji. In Fiji our tour guide saw bananas, pineapples and coconuts for the first time. The people there were really warm and friendly and he has really fond memories of Fiji. Next, they sailed to Auckland and then on to Eastern Australia. I think he had a tough time growing up without a family, but things seemed to have worked out and he has a lovely grandaughter at the moment.

Next, we visited the Aquarium (see the previous blog entry) and finally we walked over to Circular Quay for coffee and a walk around. Later, we met Andy at the Lord Nelson pub in 'The Rocks', the site of Sydney's first European settlement. It used to be a real unsavoury area as sailors, whalers and scoundrels drank and brawled in and around the pubs. It has cleaned up nicely and there are some really interesting buildings, shops, restaurants and pubs in the area now.

Sydney Aquarium

We went to the Sydney Aquarium today. I wanted to go to see the marine animals just in case I don't see many of them when I am getting my diving certification. I'm sure this is an unfounded fear, but it helped to convince Stephen that the costly entry fee was worth it!

Stephen and I were especially interested in the saltwater crocodile. I always thought the difference between crocodiles and alligators had something to do with the snout, but it turns out the difference is really in their bite. When a crocodile has has mouth closed you can see both the top and bottom teeth whereas when an alligator shuts his mouth you can only see the top set of teeth. An alligator's bottom teeth fit in special sockets so they are not visible when his mouth is closed. Interesting!

Anyway - I am going to attach my favorite pictures. It was a bit difficult to take them through the glass so please try to ignore the reflection and slightly hazy appearance of the pictures. My absolute favorite is the photo of the nurse shark's jaws as he passed over me when we were in the clear tubes walking through the shark tank. That is also an incredibly large stingray in case you are wondering...

Christchurch

We just had a great visit with Maree and Grahame in Christchurch. It is a really nice city. We were very impressed with it. The food was excellent as well. I will leave you with Stephen's 'good things' and 'bad things' list. Oh- and I won't attach the video of Alan's juggling performance. I will send it to Athena and she can decide what to do with it!

Christchurch..1960s England with parks, flowers and tram rides

Good things
Hot thermal pools in Henmnet ideal for monsoon days
Nice volcanic ridges to view Diamond harbour and sprawling Christchurch
Alan getting roped in to providing assistance for juggling street theatre
Becky's friends Graham and Maree had a copy of the John Grisham book that I had left on the bed in Uruguay with only a few chapters to go.

Bad things
Getting stuck in the window of a rock shelter whilst playing tig with Bill's 6 year old
You don't legally need car insurance so all the 16 year olds buy old V8s and go racing round Christchurch at night showing off. I had to make do with a 1.3 Escort and take it to do the shopping
American Airlines screwing up the tickets again so that we have to run from one office to another to convince them to let us on the flight. And why do we have to go via Aukland when everyone else goes direct to Sydney?
New Zealand charges you 25 dollars to leave the country and you have to fill a form in that is supposed to be for New Zealanders only and then old people forget and hold you up in the queue to get onto the plane that you've just rushed across from the stupid internal flight from Christchurch that should have been organised properly in the first place from incompetant Trailfinders sales pillock.... Finally had to say goodbye to travelling chums Alan and Athena who are finishing their trip in Singapore and who have still got my book. -- Stephen Grant

Royal Albatross Colony

Dunedin is Celtic for Edinburgh and Yorkshire for Sheffield with albatrosses. Great place to live if you are a seabird needing overcast days and gusty breezes to get you out of bed in the morning.It has a chocolate factory as well that you can tour around and get chocolate fish for answering questions. Like being back in the production plants at Ford but without the chocolate fish.
Watched loads of albatrosses taking off, landing and feeding their young. They only produce one chick and they're fat things weighing up to 9kg before the parents start putting them on a strict diet to encourage them to fish for themselves. Good job they don't learn to drink beer or they would never do anything. They then spend up to 6 years at sea - literally before returning to mate. The babies that left in Septemer have been tagged and have made it to Chile already. It normally takes adults 8 days but took the youngsters over 30 days. Must have found the beer after all..

Good things
Huge albatrosses - 3m in wingspan, can eat up to 2kg in 15 minutes- babies weigh up to 9kg before flying
Chocolate fish - Only in NZ apparently

Bad things
I have a cold
Can't find the fish and chip shop

Dunedin - Cadbury Chocolate Factory Tour and Taieri Gorge Railway

Cadbury World

We booked ourselves on the 12pm tour shortly after eating a huge brunch at a nearby cafe. We decided not to do anything involving physical exertion because Stephen has a cold. Instead, we opted for a tour of the Cadbury Chocolate Factory and a train ride on the Taieri Gorge Railway.

The tour was really interesting, especially watching the various machines cooling, wrapping and boxing up all the chocolate. A chirpy guide in purple overalls led the tour and awarded people with chocolate bars when they answered questions correctly. We ended up with plastic bags full of chocolate to take on the train with us. The tour ended with a demonstration of the largest chocolate waterfall in the world. It was fun to watch as a ton of chocolate cascaded down into a huge vat below. I got splashed a bit with the chocolate, but it was worth it!

The photos of us in the hair nets are also from the Cadbury World tour. Alan got to wear a special snood to cover his facial hair....

At 2:30 we boarded an old-fashioned, wood-panelled train. The train took us through the Taieri Gorge. A guided pointed out various sights along the way. Construction on the railway began in 1879. Highlights included crossing the Wingatui Viaduct that was 47m above the Mullocky Stream and looking down into the gorge below betweent he tracks, the statue of a sheep dog that is a tribute to their role in New Zealand's history and the rugged, schist rock cliffs and overhangs...I think we were the youngest people on the tour, but we enjoyed it nevertheless. Stephen got some naptime in and I managed to catch up on my journal.

Milford Sound

Plane trip to Milford Sound...

What an incredible experience! This will definitely be one that is hard to top! Stephen and Alan did this trip a few years ago, so they opted not to do it again. Athena and I woke up early to head over to the Queenstown airport where a small 6-seater plane awaited us. The pilot drove it right across the grassy field and over to the runway. I started videotaping the take-off and before I knew it, we were airborn. We climbed steadily as we flew over Queenstown and the lake. Soon we were soaring above the jagged, snow-capped peaks filmed in some of the Fellowship of the Rings sequences. We flew right alongside hanging glaciers and a few times I didn't think we were going to clear the highest points of the mountains. We ended up emerging over the Tasman Sea before we began our descent down through Milford Sound. When we landed we boarded a smallish boat in order to take a tour through the Sound. Our ticket included a free coffee and chocolate chip muffin much to my delight! Athena and I stood on the bow of the boat and snapped photos of the many waterfalls and sheer cliffs carved out by the ice. The fjords were spectacular. We even spotted some fur seals sunning themselved on the rocks.

The return plane trip was phenomenal. We flew over the valley that people doing the Milford Trek walk through and we flew alongside the Sunderland Waterfall (the highest in the Southern Hemisphere). We watched the water plunge over the side of the mountain from a huge, mountaintop lake. The opportunity to see the sharp, craggy peaks of the mountains from above was truly an unforgettable experience!

Routeburn Trail (one day)

We stumbled upon this trail by accident when we were looking for a hiking trail on the other side of Lake Wakatipu. We ended up in the little village of Glenorchy and the woman at the information center advised us to drive into Mt. Aspiring National Park and do part of the Routeburn Trek. In the end we were very thankful for her advice. It was a really scenic trail that took us gradually up through moss-covered rainforest, then along an icy blue river full of turquoise pools before we finally ended up in the Flats area, where we sat in a golden field and ate our marshmellow and brunch bar rations surrounded by huge snow-peaked mountains. Next, we climbed a steep trail up to the waterfall huts. It ended in a rocky scramble up to the hut, but the views along the way were spectacular....and yes, this is the trail Stephen had to follow in his sandals because he left his hiking boots in the parking lot of the Queenstown Lodge.

Queenstown

Queenstown

Nicer than I remember - small town situated between huge mountains on a lake with loads of bars and people trying to sell you scary trips. Actually the prices scare me more. 160 dollars for a raft ride, 170 dollars for a bungy jump. Me and Al paid 14 dollars for two goes on the luge which was brilliant and probably more dangerous. Started a hike on the Routeburn way yesterday which is a spectacular walk through rainforest, across bouncy bridges spanning raging waterfalls and up twisty tracks to glacial and snowy mountains. The only thing you really need is a pair of walking boots and to my dismay they had disappeared from the boot of the car. I realised that they were still sitting at the hostel car park awaiting Alan to move the car forward so that they could be thrown in. Well I suppose he did move it forward the boots were forgotton until we got to the trail. Better not get a dog. Fortunately they were still here when we returned in the evening, socks and all.

Sandals aren't greast for walking up stony hills. You get stones under your feet they take ages to work there way out and you have to walk in a strange way flicking your feet at trees. Also when your feet get hot, they start to slide out of the sandals on the downhill stretches. Great weather here. Nice for ice creams

Good things
Me and Becky in a canoe and still not falling in
Luge racing with Al
Finding walking boots
Free cooked breakfasts overlooking the lake

Bad things
Losing walking boots
Al planning walking trip and navigating us to an industrial estate

Wanaka, Cinema Paradiso and the Rob Roy trek

We arrived in Wanaka in the early afternoon with just enough time to take a refreshing dip in the lake. We ate a delicious, but pricey dinner at the Reef restaurant. It is on the main street upstairs and has stunning views of the lake and mountains. That night we went to the highly original Cinema Paradiso. The owner is a crazy Scottish movie fanatic. He greets everyone at the door and delivers a stand-up comedy introduction to each film he shows. The theater itself is littered with donated sofas and large, puffy pillows. There is even an old, yellow Morris Minor car in the theater for moviegoers to sit in. He stops the movie in the middle for an intermission where patrons can purchase huge, warm chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven. It was quite an experience. We watched the Will Smith movie, 'I am Legend'. It was really good and it made us afraid to walk home in the dark...

The next day we drove over an unpaved road and across some fords to get to the start of the Rob Roy trail. It was a beautiful, but steep alpine trek up to the Rob Roy glacier where we were greeted by cheeky Khea birds hoping for handouts. They look like large brown parrots with sharp, black beaks. They have bright red feathers on the underside of each wing. I guess they cause campers all sorts of trouble as they steal things like hiking boots to use for nest building. However, I thoroughly enjoyed watching their amusing antics beside the glacier.

Fox Glacier

Here are some photos from Fox Glacier and views of Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman reflected in Matheson Lake. We only had a half a day by the glacier, but we filled it up with a lovely walk around the lake and a view of the terminal face of the Fox Glacier.

Abel Tasman National Park

Abel Tasman National Park
Soft sandy beaches that can only be reached by boats. So we hired kayaks and paddled around the bays trying to stay afloat in the waves. They also had footpedal steering - right for right and left for left but I still constantly screwed it up and had to blame the odd rogue wave for floundering in the wrong direction. Fortunately I was also able to offer some wife paddling coaching after my years as chief dragon boat coach - that's what it says in my CV - this did not always help the team but we managed to get through to lunch without anyone falling out. We stayed overnight in the keel of a ship. They now have backpackers in the sea to protect the wildlife on land and provide a captive market for the captain's sausages. Next day was walking along the cliffs with a hair raising water taxi back to the the start over the mad mile - the tops of the waves were above the boat on this stretch of the water. Highlight on the way back was managing to get the taxi boat onto the back of a moving tractor trailer and then continuing on land behind the tractor.


Good things
Kayacking, swimming, carrot cake lunch with kawakawa tea made from leaves in the forest

Bad things
Nearly started international incident by accusing cheeky Israelis of moving all my stuff from the bunk and making me have the worst one. It was Al all along and the guys were really nice - holding my cup of tea while climbing the stairs etc
I still had the coffin bunk

Picton and winetasting in Marlborough

Picton and Marlborough wineries...

On Friday we took the ferry over to the South Island. It was a really windy day so we were bobbing around the entire time we were in the open ocean. The ferry landed in Picton, a really quaint little port town. We stayed in a nice backpackers with incredible views of the bay. We ate our cereal overlooking the ocean and we even decided to have a barbecue outside on the second evening.

Athena booked us onto a wine-tasting tour. The region of Marlborough is famous for its white wine, especially its Sauvignon Blanc. It is the driest region in New Zealand. We had an entertainting British expat bus driver drive us to the three wineries on the tasting tour. We visited Hunter's, Nautilus and Cloudy Bay. I was especially impressed that Hunter's is run by a woman. She has really made a name for herself in the wine world. We enjoyed the wines and meeting the interesting people on our tour. I don't think Alan and Stephen quite have the same appreciation for wine as they do for beer, but they enjoyed it nonetheless.

Wellington

Here is a picture of the lovely B&B we finally managed to find outside of Wellington and the amazing view of the beach we had from our bedroom window....The other photos are from Wellington.

We attempted to call ahead and book accomodation in Wellington and were surprised to find that everywhere in the Lonely Planet was fully booked. Finally, one of the places told me they had four beds left, but that they were charging double the normal price because of the Rugby 7's happening in Wellington over the weekend.

Being the rugby ignorant American that I am, I had to ask here what that meant. The lady on the phone patiently explained that they were having a huge international tournament with rugby teams playing a version of rugby with seven people on each side (making it a faster moving game). Apparently, there was even an American team competing! New Zealand won the whole thing in the end with a close game against Samoa. The best part of it was the buzz in Wellington. Everyone dressed up in crazy costumes and people traveled to Wellington from all over the country to watch.

In the end, we found a lovely backpackers that was far more like a B&B in the nearby town of Plimmerton. Plimmerton was actually right on the coast and our B&B was just across the street from the beach. The owners were former teachers and the entire lodge was run very efficiently. It was called Moana Lodge. After the long drive, we went for a swim in the ocean and then headed into Wellington for the evening. There was a great commuter train that we took into town giving Alan a much needed break from driving. We wandered around the harbor area. Stephen and Alan found the Brewery Bar and Restaurant which served really nice food along with the Wellington Brewery beer.

On Friday, we drove up to Mount Victoria for a 360 degree view of the city and surrounding area. We visited the Beehive, the Parliament House and Parliamentary Library and enjoyed watching all of the rugby fans in their crazy outfits. I'm sure you can figure out from the pictures which building is the famous 'Beehive'. Wellington is a really nice city. It is also the home of Peter Jackson (director of 'The Fellowship of the Ring') and is sometimes referred to as Wellywood because of this.

Mount Doom

We drove from Rotorua down to National Park, a tiny town named for the nearby Tongariro National Park. We stayed in a cute little lodge used for skiing accomodation in the winter. That night we saw a spectacular sunset over Mt. Ngauruhoe (2287m), otherwise known as Mount Doom in the Fellowship of the Ring Trilogy.

On Wednesday, we did the Tongariro Crossing, sometimes referred to as New Zealand's best one-day walk. The scenery was very unusual and the walk was tough. There was a couple in their 70's on the bus trip in and they amazed us by their ability to handle the trek. It was like the second and third day of the Inca Trail all wrapped into one day. There was a never-ending, steep uphill climb over rocks and boulders and then a scary descent that involved sliding down a steep, sandy hill. I actually had to dig the edges of my hiking boots into the sand to avoid sliding.

As if that was not enough, we decided to add on an extra hour and a half side trip up to the Tongariro summit. At one point we were walking along a sandy ledge on the side of the volcano. I decided not to look down in order to keep going. It was a bit scary! We made it, however, and had a picnic lunch on the top of the summit. It would have been perfect if it weren't for the pesky flies that somehow seemed to know there were people eating lunch way up on top of the barren volcano!

Highlights of the walk included all kinds of spectacular views of Mt. Doom, the huge crater bowl we walked through, the New Zealand army jogging past us as they trained, lunch and views from the Tongariro summit, the Red Crater and the Emerald Lakes. We had to pick up the pace a little in order to arrive back to the parking lot before 4pm. Otherwise, we would have had to spend the night in the park! I don't think the hobbits were acting when they looked exhausted as they made there way through Morder. We were exhausted, too!

Rafting the Kaituna River

Today we went river rafting down the Kaituna River just outside of Rotorua. It is considered a level 5 river rafting excursion primarily because of the 7 meter (21ft) fall that you go down. It is the largest rafting waterfall in the world. Needless to say, Athena and I were a bit unsure about going down this particular river. We read all the brochures, looked at the pictures and the woman at the information place assured us that no one has ever been hurt on the waterfall.

I was really nervous this morning before we set out, but I am really glad I did it.

It was such a rush! We had a really mad Kiwi guide, and a guide in training in our boat. They made the whole trip so much fun. They took our minds off of the steep falls by talking about the giant eels that live in the river -which made us feel so much better as you can imagine! Our group was the first group to go over all the falls. It seemed like we were under water a long time. In fact, when we looked at the photographic evidence of the trip our entire raft disappeared underneath the water before finally bobbing up. It was really exciting! Next time I will go down with my eyes open.

Rotorua

This morning we met Joe for a last breakfast at the Strawberry Alarmclock, a cute little breakfast place in Parnell, a smart area of Auckland. The homes are really nice there. Joe made several recommendations for things we could do in and around Rotorua since he worked at a hospital there for 3 years.

We arrived in Rotorua in the afternoon so we decided to visit the Waimangu Volcanic Valley first. This is the newest geothermal are in world. It was created during the eruption of Mt. Tarawera in 1886. Before that, there was no geothermal activity in the area. Now it is a seething hotbed of steaming streams and cliffs and hot springs. We did the two hour walk to the end of the park and got the shuttle back. Inferno Crater Lake was the most beautiful sight because of the amazing blue color of the water. Also, I snapped some photos of Frying Pan Lake, the largest hot spring in the world. It was really interesting to see the photos taken of the area immediately after the eruption at the turn of the century...

Piha and Karekare ('The Piano' beach)

Today we met Joe at Circus Circus, a really great breakfast cafe on Mt. Eden.

He then came along with us to show us around Karekare and Piha beaches.

First, we went to the tourist information center for the Waitakere Range, a wilderness area once full of kauri forests until they were logged almost to extinction. They are starting to make a comeback now.

Next, we drove to Karekare, the beach featured in the movie, 'The Piano'. It is really pristine and beautiful. If you look back at the beach there is almost no sign of civilization. There are few summer homes nestled in the trees, but you can't even see them from the beach. The sand is made from iron and very dark. It is also extremely hot (much hotter than white sand). Joe was very knowledgeable about the movie and he even showed us the tree the posh lady from the movie chose to pee under while her servants held her skirts...We then walked to a nearby waterfall. It was tempting to swim in the pool below it, but then Joe mentioned the eels that live there so we opted not to jump in.

Finally, we drove to Piha Beach, a popular surfing spot. The beaches on the west coast can be very dangerous because of the strong undercurrents. Fortunately, Joe knew about a secret cove where we could swim in a natural wave pool away from the surfers. It was an idyllic spot. I took a picture of it from the hillside above. It was really fun bouncing over the waves after they had crashed on the rocks behind us. Joe told us that when Pearl Jam was in New Zealand Eddy Veder had to be rescued by the lifeguards because of the strong currents. He invited them to the concert that night and told everyone the story.

Back in Auckland, Sky Tower

Here we are back in Auckland and up in the Sky Tower, the tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere (328m). We made dinner reservations for 9pm and went up to the observation deck early to watch the sunset. It was really high and really scary. They even had glass windows in the floor so you could stand on them and look down at the ground. People actually bungy jump off the Sky Tower! I couldn't believe it! I couldn't even watch the video of the people bungy jumping.

Dinner was excellent and the floor in the outer section of the restaurant rotated slowly so we got to see all the way around the Sky Tower while we ate. I guess it makes one complete revolution an hour. We were there for two hours so we revolved twice. We were even lucky enough to catch the holiday weekend firework show on the harbor side as we revolved.

Bay of Islands

On Thursday, we drove up the the Bay of Islands. It is really beautiful.

We went swimming in the bay. I was amazed at how warm it is after swimming in the sea in California. We also took a ferry across to the town of Russell for sunset and an evening meal. It is an idyllic town - so beautiful! I am including some pictures so you can see for yourself. I'll also get Stephen to add his thoughts on the Bay of Islands while I attach pictures...

Auckland, New Zealand